Elucidation of phase behavior of viscous polymer droplet covered with viscous membrane

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H05463
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Biological physics/Chemical physics/Soft matter physics
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
• Principal Investigator: YANAGISAWA Miho 東京農工大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 特任准教授 (50555802)
• Research Collaborator: WATANABE Chiho
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 高分子混雑 / 細胞モデル / 分子拡散 / 膜変形 / 粘弾性 / ミクロ閉じ込め

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Non-equilibrium phenomena such as abnormal diffusion have been reported in living cells and cell membrane models. As a factor of the non-equilibrium phenomenon, we assumed that the dense polymer becomes viscoelastic and behaves differently from bulk when confining high concentration polymer solution in the microspace. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the non-equilibrium phenomenon due to the interaction between membrane and polymer by analyzing molecular diffusion and membrane fluctuation using a cell model confining a polymer solution. As a result, a non-equilibrium phenomenon such as (i) abnormal molecule diffusion, (ii) membrane deformation of the cell membrane model due to internal viscosity, for example, was observed when a highly crowded polymer was confined in the microspace.

Free Research Field

ソフトマター物理