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POSTER PRESENTATION
Tuesday, 15:40, Panel No. 6
Studying the Curvature Elasticity of Biomembranes Through Numerical Simulations
V. Harmandaris, M. Deserno
Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research, D-55021 Mainz, Germany
One of the main aspects in the study of biological membranes is the curvature elasticity of membranes. A well known way to predict the free energy is from the spectrum of equilibrium membrane fluctuations: according to Helfrich theory if one expands the interface in modes in the Fourier space then in the limit of the linear curvature elasticity this can be directly related to the bending modulus. This method, however, cannot be easily generalized to higher than linear curvature models. Here we propose an alternative methodology for studying the curvature elasticity of membranes. The basic idea is to impose a deformation of the membrane and measure the force required to hold it in the deformed state. Specifically we stretch a cylindrical vesicle and measure the force needed for such an extension. Results are presented about the force acting on the stretching cylindrical vesicle as well as about the bending modulus as a function of the curvature. The values for the bending modulus are also compared with the predictions from the analysis of the spectrum of equilibrium membrane fluctuations. © IWNET 2006
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and Kleanthi for IWNET 2006