title: Supported planar bilayers in studies on immune cell adhesion and communication.
abstract: Supported planar bilayers have been used extensively in immunology to study molecular interactions at interfaces as a model for cell-cell interaction. Examples include Fc receptor-mediated adhesion and signaling and formation of the immunological synapse between T cells and antigen-presenting cells. The advantage of the supported planar bilayer system is control of the bilayer composition and the optical advantages of imaging the cell-bilayer or bilayer-bilayer interface by various types of trans-, epi- and total internal reflection illumination. Supported planar bilayers are simple to form by liposome fusion and recent advances in micro- and nanotechnology greatly extend the power of supported bilayers to address key questions in immunology and cell biology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. jtgroves@lbl.gov
authors.forename: Jay T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Groves
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Dustin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000276:immunology*; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000276:immunology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008954:Models, Biological
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers