Project R-1407

Role of gephyrin and the membrane heterogeneity on the behaviour of the glycine receptor (Research)

This is an application for an IWT specialisation scolarship from 01.01.2007 til 31.12.2008. The research topic is the role of gephyrine and membrane heterogenity on the behaviour of glycinereceptor. This will be investigated by Smisdom Nick within the research institute BIOMED. The membrane heterogeneity can be expected to influence the diffusion of the glycine receptor. This can possibly lead to anomalous diffusion behavior. The binding with gephyrine will not only lead to changes in diffusion but might possible induce clustering. The diffusion of the glycine receptor in the membrane of living chinese hamster ovary cells (by transfection) and of oligodendroglial cells will be monitored by microfluorimetric techniques: fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, raster image correlation spectroscopy and single particle tracking. The possible clustering of the receptor will be investigated by atomic force microscopy. The research will be conducted in collaboration with groups from KULeuven, UGent and the Universite de Liege.

01 January 2009 - 31 December 2010