Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Monitoring: A Method for Studying Biomimetic Membranes

The human body contains a few trillions of cells of different types and functions, which are crucial for living. The study of cell membranes is important for understanding biolog-ical events and developing new medicines. As cell membranes are very complex, research-ers often create and study simple models, referred to as biomimetic membranes, in order to understand their behavior and properties. In this paper, we briefly present quartz crys-tal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCMD) as a surface-sensitive technique to study biomimetic membranes. By measuring changes in the oscillation frequency and dis-sipation energy of quartz crystal sensors, QCMD can monitor in real time molecular events occurring at the quartz sensor-sample interface, such as formation of supported layers, changes in thickness and structural properties, as well as biomolecular interactions. We present a concise description of the basic QCMD principles, followed by a few examples on the adsorption of model membranes, namely, solid-supported lipid bilayers and vesi-cles, as well as on studying lipid phase transitions.