Publications

Particle interaction measurements using laser tweezers optical trapping

Grillet, Anne M.; Brotherton, Christopher M.; Brinker, C.J.

Laser tweezers optical trapping provides a unique noninvasive capability to trap and manipulate particles in solution at the focal point of a laser beam passed through a microscope objective. Additionally, combined with image analysis, interaction forces between colloidal particles can be quantitatively measured. By looking at the displacement of particles within the laser trap due to the presence of a neighboring particle or looking at the relative diffusion of two particles held near each other by optical traps, interparticle interaction forces ranging from pico- to femto-Newtons can be measured. Understanding interaction forces is critical for predicting the behavior of particle dispersions including dispersion stability and flow rheology. Using a new analysis method proposed by Sainis, Germain, and Dufresne, we can simultaneously calculate the interparticle velocity and particle diffusivity which allows direct calculation of the interparticle potential for the particles. By applying this versatile tool, we measure difference in interactions between various phospholipid bilayers that have been coated onto silica spheres as a new type of solid supported liposome. We measure bilayer interactions of several cell membrane lipids under various environmental conditions such as pH and ionic strength and compare the results with those obtained for empty liposomes. These results provide insight into the role of bilayer fluctuations in liposome fusion, which is of fundamental interest to liposome based drug delivery schemes.