Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Physics

First Advisor

Dr. Ahmed Touhami

Second Advisor

Dr. Karen Martirosyan

Third Advisor

Dr. Andreas Hanke

Abstract

Amyloid fibrils from milk proteins have recently been the subject of extensive investigations in biophysics. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the dynamics of fibrillation and the mechanical properties of β-LG and β-CN fibers using AFM-Quantitative Nanomechanical Mapping (QNM) and AFM-force spectroscopy. β-LG required one day of heating at 80 °C , pH 2 to fibrillate in solution; β-CN required three days. Using the AFM-QNM mode an average elastic modulus of 4.3 GPa was determined for the β-LG fibers and 3.1 GPa for β-casein fibers. A persistence length of 920 nm was determined using end to end distance and contour length data of β-LG fibers; for β-casein, a persistence length of 2200 nm was determined.

Comments

Copyright 2018 Hugo A. Villar. All Rights Reserved.

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/utrgv.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/studying-mechanical-structural-properties-β-lg-cn/docview/2177394013/se-2?accountid=7119

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