Actin

Blog posts

C-Trap^® uncovers autonomous force generation of anillin contracting actin filaments

A recent publication by Kucera et al. in Nature Communications combined TIRF assays and Optical Tweezers measurements to investigate myosin-independent actin contraction that is relevant during cytokinesis and cell division. The authors found a new mechanism showing how anillin, a non-motor actin crosslinking and scaffolding protein, substitutes for the activity…

j.yeh23 August 2021

Blog posts

Advanced C-Trap^® systems recently installed at two universities in Europe

We are delighted to announce two new C-Trap® installations in Europe, one at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) and the other at the University of Kent. At MPI-CBG, this will be the second C-Trap installed. The new system is configured with quadruple optical traps…

Adrià Ferragut6 July 2021

Blog posts

Force-dependent actin filament-binding by α-catenin recorded with the C-Trap^®

A recent publication in the journal eLife describes a multidisciplinary study evaluating how the mechanical properties of actin filaments regulate the binding of associated proteins. Specifically, the researchers used the C-Trap® to demonstrate how applied forces on actin filaments enhance binding of cell–cell adhesion protein α-catenin, but not its homolog…

j.yeh15 October 2020

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