May 28, 2008 (Wednesday)
Molecular Science & Engineering Building, Room 3201A
"Controlled manipulation of biological systems in microfluidic environments"
Sarah Koester
Dept. of Physics/ School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Harvard University
The cell as a whole as well as intra- and extracellular macromolecules and networks are mainly governed by structures and processes that are to be found on the nanometer to micrometer scales. In order to study the dynamics of biophysical processes in cells and sub-cellular components there is a need for observation techniques as well as manipulation methods which act exactly on these length scales.
The employment of microfluidics brings about the unique advantage of enabling us to measure dynamics in situ and in real-time while manipulating and imaging the system on the relevant length scales. The structures themselves can be used to confine or compartmentalize biological matter or impose external forces. Flow and force fields as well as gradients can be established on cellular length scales. Thus, physics and biochemistry of the system can be directly coupled and dynamics and kinetics can be measured.
