Nanoscale ruler reveals organization of the cell membrane
After a ten-year effort, Prof. Dr. Michael Reth from the Institute of Biology III of the University of Freiburg and the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics has developed a method to investigate the cell surface's organization on a nanometer scale. This allows him to monitor how the antigen receptor, which B cells of the immune system use to recognize foreign substances, changes after activation. This study shows that the receptor components dissociate from each other– rather than assemble, as previously assumed. Reorganization of receptors on the cell membrane takes place within a range of 10 to 40 nanometers. Under an optical microscope, however, it is only possible to distinguish objects that lie at least 250 nanometers apart.