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NJIT Mathematical Biology Seminar

Tuesday, March 27, 2007, 4:00pm
Cullimore Hall 611
New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Measuring Membrane Potential of Live Cells by Dielectric Spectroscopy

Camelia Prodan

Department of Physics
New Jersey Institute of Technology

Membrane potential plays an important role in the activity of a cell and represents the potential difference between the inside and outside of a cell. By studying the dielectric properties of living cells we found a strong dependence on the membrane potential at low frequencies, making dielectric spectroscopy a great and noninvasive technique for measuring or monitoring the membrane potential. Beside membrane potential, we can also extract different cell parameters. I will start this talk by presenting the theoretical model and experimental data for this potential technique. I will also review and show data recorded with classic techniques for measuring this important parameters, such as patch clamping and voltage sensitive dyes. I will end by presenting several applications of our technique such as noninvasive cell sorting and drug delivery/channel blocking monitoring