Marta Dal Molin

TL;DR: This work shows that a planarizable push–pull fluorescent probe called FliptR (fluorescent lipid tension reporter) can monitor changes in membrane tension by changing its fluorescence lifetime as a function of the twist between its fluorescent groups, and provides calibration curves that enable accurate measurement of membrane tension usingfluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy.

TL;DR: Controls indicate that strong push–pull macrodipoles are important, operational probes do not relocate in response to lateral membrane reorganization, and two flippers are indeed needed to “really swim,” i.e., achieve high mechanosensitivity.

TL;DR: This article assembles pertinent insights behind the concept of planarizable push-pull probes as a bioengineering approach to bypass the challenge to create molecular mechanosensitivity and use biological systems instead to sense membrane tension.

TL;DR: In this paper, the concept of fluorophore planarization and polarization for the construction of innovative fluorescent membrane probes is elaborated comprehensively in the context of oligothiophenes, and an extensive screening reveals that intermediate global deplanarization with strong individual twists near the membrane interface are best.

TL;DR: The "hyper-twisted" EDOT probes respond to planarization and restricted rotational freedom with a red shift and changes in vibrational finestructure in the excitation spectrum, respectively, and the sensing of membrane potentials is weakened by these unique properties but remains possible.