Applying Nanotechnology to Living Cells

	Fluorescent markings on a chromosome

The field of nanotechnology has put forward a huge number of techniques to study material at the nanometer scale. Until now most of it has been applied on inorganic surfaces and materials and at best on single biomolecules. The relevant entity in biology however is the living cell. This topic concerns the application of nanotechnology with all its aspects to living cells. This encompasses for example the analysis of dynamic processes in living cells, achieving nanometer resolution of constituents upon or within the cell and integration/coupling of the living cell with inorganic surfaces.

 

This SRP group's objective are:

• to address particular challenges in the application area, therefore map out the different technologies available that can be applied to living cells and eventually,
• create a survey of techniques and technologies available in the N2L network that can be applied to living cells,
• to identify the kind of data that is achieved with a particular technique and to determine how different techniques can be compared,
• initiate 3 projects that link up the technology with one particular application.

Working in Three Subgroups

Scientists being enabled in technological research mapped out the different techniques which can be applied to cell analysis. A determination of the application areas that can be addressed resulted in three fields:

 

The subgroups emerging from these fields are:

• mechanical methods (Winnie Svendsen, MIC, Denmark),
• optical methods (Christian Depeursinge, EPFL, Switzerland),
• electrical methods (Jenny Emneus, Lund, Sweden).

The three subgroups are occupied with the technology development for a particular application followed by an intensive validation of the application partners. In particular the groups of the cancer related diagnostics, the cell biology and in vitro toxicologyare designed for a promising collaboration with the application driven groups.