Cell mechanics of cell division
The
cortical actomyosin layer below the membrane of dividing cells and the
astral microtubules of the mitotic spindle are coupled through internal
feedback mechanisms that regulate the cell’s local and global mechanical
properties. We study the perturbation of mitotic Hela cells with
localized force and the cellular response using fluorescence imaging. [M.-T.
Wei] [Collaborator: Dr.
Vavylonis and Dr.
Jedlicka]
Electrophoresis
Electrical origin forces such as dielectrophoresis (DEP) and AC electroosmosis (ACEO) have been widely investigated for the purpose of sample pretreatment and analysis. Recent development has witnessed that both DEP and ACEO have great potential in sample transportation, sorting, mixing, etc on microfluidic devices. We intend achieving quantification methods of DEP force and ACEO flow on an individual particle. [J. Wang; HJ Park; M.-T. Wei]
M.-T. Wei et. al., Biomicrofluidics 3 012003 (2009)
Microfluidics for bionanoparticles
Concentration of HIV viral particles in blood of adolescent and infant individuals can be below detection range. Locally concentrating viral particles in blood samples can lead to faster detections and prognosis. [Y. Hu; C. Wentz; C. Phillips ] [Collaborators: Dr. Cheng]
Microrheology in living cells
Biological intracellular stresses generated by molecular motors can actively modify cytoskeletal network causing intracellular mechanical responses. We study out-of-equilibrium microrheology in living cells and correlation of the cell microrheology and the biological functions. [M.-T. Wei] [Collaborator: Dr. Ghadiali]
H. C. Yalcin et al., Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 297 L881 (2009); M.-T. Wei et. al, Optics Express 16 8594 (2008)
Nanophotonics and nanocolloid physics
We study nanophotonics, which is to develop novel materials or devices using engineered metallic nanostructures. The ability to grasp and control the optical or plasmonic effect on the nanometer scale opens new windows to applications raging from biosensing, nanomedicine to super-resolution imaging and high-density information storage. [L. Zhou; J. Junio] [Collaborators: Dr. Dierolf; Dr. Zhan]
Optical bottles
We present a novel method, the optical bottle, that uses a focused laser beam to trap and analyze optically confined multiple nanoparticles. By using optical forces to compress and confine nanoparticles, we have developed a non-invasive method to study nanoparticle behavior in situ. [J. Junio]
J. Junio et al., Solid State Communications 150 1003 (2010); J. Junio et al., Optical Letter 36 1497 (2011)
Optical binding
Optical binding has been proposed to be responsible for the cluster formation of micron size dielectric spheres in coherent light fields. We use optical tweezers to study the optical binding forces and compare with theoretical results. [M.-T. Wei] [Collaborator: Dr. Ng ]
M-T Wei, et. al. SPIE Proc. 7400 (2009)