Transport and Concentration of Charged Molecules in a Lipid Membrane

S. D. Evans[1], J. S. Roth[1], M. R. Cheetham[1]
[1]University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Published in 2014

Brownian ratchets and electric fields are used for the transport of membrane components. Transport is achieved through the combination of a pattern with free diffusion. We show a good agreement between simulation and experiment, therefore allowing for further optimisation of the ratchets using COMSOL Multiphysics. In addition to the transport device we also introduce the possibility to concentrate membrane components into a pre-defined trap region using a different pattern. The charged material is then kept in the trap for a predicted time of several hours.