Research Areas - (3) Optical Tweezers Cell Biophysics and Mechanobiology

Full path: Biology > Biophysics > Quantum Biology / Biosensing > Optical Tweezers Cell Biophysics and Mechanobiology

Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam 🔗
Delft University of Technology 🔗
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Department(s)/lab(s): BioNanoscience / Kavli Institute of Nanoscience | Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam Lab — Single-Molecule Cell Biophysics @ TU Delft
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Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam (Associate Professor, BioNanoscience) uses single-molecule tools to study membrane proteins and cell biophysics. Research: (1) optical tweezers protein unfolding — mechanical unfolding of membrane proteins to probe folding landscape; (2) single-molecule cell biophysics — force spectroscopy on live cells; (3) synthetic biology applications — integrating engineered proteins with biophysical tools.

Poul Martin Bendix 🔗
University of Copenhagen 🔗
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Department(s)/lab(s): Physics / Niels Bohr Institute | BendixLab — Biophotonics & Mechanobiology @ UCPH
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Poul Martin Bendix (Associate Professor, BendixLab/NBI) investigates physical properties of living cells using advanced optical techniques. Research: (1) optical tweezers for mechanosensing — GPCR mechanosensing with picoNewton force resolution, membrane curvature sensing by proteins (annexins, BAR-domain proteins); (2) thermoplasmonics — gold nanoparticle laser heating for controlled membrane microsurgery, cell fusion, and plasma membrane repair; (3) single-molecule biophysics — DNA-protein interactions using 4-trap optical tweezers (LUMICKS C-Trap) with STED imaging; (4) filopodia dynamics — twist and rotation of actin filaments; (5) Brillouin microscopy for cell mechanics; (6) COBM center management. GPCRmec consortium (Novo Nordisk). 2026 BPS Annual Meeting featured.

Daniel Fletcher 🔗
University of California, Berkeley 🔗
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Department(s)/lab(s): Bioengineering | Fletcher Lab @ UCB
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Fletcher combines optical and force microscopy (AFM, optical tweezers) with purified-protein and single-cell assays to measure the mechanics of cell movement and immune-cell activation, and has also developed low-cost imaging instrumentation (foldscopes, phone-based microscopes) for global health.