Research Areas - (3) Optical Tweezers Single-Cell Force Spectroscopy

Full path: Biology > Biophysics > Quantum Biology / Biosensing > Optical Trapping Biophysics > Optical Tweezers Single-Cell Force Spectroscopy

Carlos Bustamante 🔗
University of California, Berkeley 🔗
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Department(s)/lab(s): Physics, Chemistry, and Molecular & Cell Biology | Bustamante Lab @ UCB
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Bustamante is a founding figure of single-molecule biophysics, using optical and magnetic tweezers to measure the forces and torques generated by molecular motors (RNA polymerase, viral packaging motors, the ribosome) as they act on individual nucleoprotein complexes. The lab continues to push single-molecule force spectroscopy toward sub-piconewton, millisecond resolution to resolve mechanochemical intermediates invisible to bulk assays.

Bart Hoogenboom 🔗
University College London 🔗
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Department(s)/lab(s): Physics & Astronomy – Biophysics & London Centre for Nanotechnology | Hoogenboom Lab (High-Speed AFM and Nanoscale Biophysics) @ UCL
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Hoogenboom leads a biophysics group at UCL specializing in high-speed atomic force microscopy. Research directions: (1) High-speed AFM — imaging conformational dynamics of DNA, proteins (including membrane channels), and chromatin at ms time resolution and sub-nm spatial resolution in aqueous conditions; (2) Nuclear pore complex — mapping transport selectivity and structure of NPCs in native nuclear envelopes using AFM; (3) Antimicrobial mechanisms — imaging membrane disruption by antimicrobial peptides in real time; (4) AFM-based force spectroscopy — measuring single-molecule interaction forces in chromatin and protein assemblies. Strong relevance to biological sensing at the single-molecule level.

Peter Reece 🔗
University of New South Wales 🔗
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Department(s)/lab(s): School of Physics | Reece Optical Trapping and Nanophotonics Laboratory @ UNSW
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Reece runs UNSW's optical trapping and nanophotonics laboratory. The group combines optical tweezers with spectroscopy and microfluidics to characterise individual nanoparticles and cells: trapping and spectroscopically interrogating plasmonic core-satellite assemblies (with Gooding and Tilley), measuring single-cell mechanics, and building porous-silicon and photonic-crystal resonant structures for label-free biosensing where the analyte shifts a cavity resonance. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work — DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity — optical trapping is the standard way to hold a nanoscale sensor — including a nanodiamond hosting an NV ensemble at pT/sqrt(Hz) — at a controlled position inside a cell or fluid, and levitated-nanodiamond spin-mechanics is an active field that this group's capabilities map onto almost exactly. Strong practical fit for a bio-oriented quantum sensing candidate.