Seminar “Using the tools of nanotechnology for biology at the single-molecule and single-cell scale”

Date

Friday, 29 April 2016

Time

12:00 am

Place

University of Barcelona
Faculty of Physics Building
Room 3.20, 3rd floor 

Speaker

Dr Cees Dekker, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft (The Netherlands)

Abstract

Nanotechnology offers fantastic opportunities to contribute to biology. After a general introduction, I will present examples where nanofabrication – the ability to make confined structures with dimensions at will – is used to examine the biophysics of single molecules and cells. I will present two major examples from our lab: 1. DNA translocation through solid-state nanopores [1] Solid-state nanopores have proven to be a surprisingly versatile probe for single-molecule analysis of DNA. I will describe some of our recent efforts to expand the capabilities of solid-state nanopores even further, in the direction of single-protein detection, graphene nanopores, plasmonic nanopores, and DNA origami nanopores. 2. Exploring biophysics of bacteria with nanofabricated shapes [2] We shape bacteria into forms that deviate from their natural phenotype. Specifically, I will show our ability to shape live E. coli bacteria into novel shapes such as rectangles, squares, triangles and circles. We study pattern formation in these geometries. I will show spatiotemporal oscillations of Min proteins – associated with cell division – in such artificial geometries of live E. coli cells.

References:

[1] C. Dekker, Solid-state nanopores, Nature Nanotechnology 2, 209−215 (2007) [2] F. Wu et al, Nature Nanotechnology 10, 719–726 (2015)