STROBOSCOPIC ILLUMINATION GIVES NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND IMPROVES THE PRECISION OF BENDING ELASTIC MODULUS MEASUREMENTS

In this work we propose an improved experimental set-up for the measurement of the bending elastic modulus by the analysis of thermally induced shape fluctuations of quasi spherical GUVs using stroboscopic illumination. The stroboscopic video microscopy has better time resolution than the continuous illumination video microscopy. Consequently, it is no more necessary to use a 'correction factor'to account for the artifact due to the finite video camera integration time. The experimental data, acquired under the stroboscopic illumination can be completely interpreted using only two model parameters, the bending elastic modulus and the dimensionless membrane tension.