Research Areas
Imaging, probing & manipulation, from molecules to cells
Our research teams develop and apply a variety of physical methods to image, probe and manipulate biological materials from nanosecond to millisecond timescales and from molecules to cells. These methods include high-energy laser systems to manipulate matter from single molecules to micron-sized particles, STED and two-photon approaches, atomic force microscopy, and scattering methods with neutrons and X-rays.
Materials & magnetism for biosensing and therapy
The research teams have developed new magnetic materials with biomedical applications. These novel nanoparticles have interesting physical properties that would be suited to drug delivery or in vivo diagnostics. There is also significant effort in creating and understanding surfaces and surface-solute interactions, including proteins and other biological molecules. The groups are also creating nano-patterned surfaces and novel nanomechanical cantilevers that are used to facilitate measurements on biological materials.
There is a significant effort in understanding the mechanics of hearing and cell-signalling pathways initiated by receptor-ligand interactions as well as energy and charge transfer in photsynthetic membranes. Ab initio computer models of molecular structures and molecular systems up to and including the scale of biological molecules have been developed. Modelling of surfaces and molecular interactions at interfaces, theory of complex fluids and fluid dynamics and soft matter in non-linear regimes are also studied.
