| Title: |
A fluorescence force microscope |
| Category: |
Faculty |
| Intellectual Property: |
Student team assigns intellectual property management to University of Arizona |
| Year: |
2009 |
| Semester: |
Fall |
| Sponsor Name: |
AME department, University of Arizona |
| Sponsoring advisors: |
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| Sponsor URL: |
http://www.ame.arizona.edu |
| Sponsor Information: |
The Wu lab in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering focuses on understanding the structure-property relationship of novel biomaterials such as genetically engineered proteins and DNAs, and exploring their applications in biomedical engineering. |
| ITAR Restriction: |
No |
| Scope of work: |
What?
This project will involve the design and development of a fluorescence force microscope that integrates the recently emerged single-molecule fluorescence technique into conventional optical tweezers.
Why?
Many diseases, including cancer and aging, relate to the instability of DNAs and RNAs. Studies of single DNA/RNA biology and their interactions with proteins at the single molecular level will faciliate the therapy development for cancer, aging, and other diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. Likewise, recombinant protein technology has enabled the genetic engineering of protein-based materials with precisely programmed sequences. Understanding the single protein behavior will help us to design and engineer new proteins with desired mechanical properties. Conventional optical tweezers are often used to study the deformation behavior of single D/RNA and protein molecules. In the past two or three years, single-molecule fluorescence techniques have been introduced into optical tweezers. This new technique allows biophysicists and biomedical engineers to study a lot of interesting problems that couldn't be studied before.
How
The Wu lab is in the process of setting up a fluorescence force microscope on an optical table. That is a conventional way to set up a fluorescence force microscope. This project aims to set up a fluorescence force microscope in a compact way. That means all the optical, electrical, and mechanical components have to be put into one portable "black box". Future users, who don’t understand the setup, should be able to use the device, just like using any commercial research instrument. This will be a significant improvement if compared to the conventional setup, which requires a user to understand the whole setup to some extent in order to use it. The team will work closely with project sponsor and mentor Dr. Xiaoyi Wu as well as with his highly interdisciplinary research team. |
| Project summary: |
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| Disciplines: |
Mechanical Engineering (2)
Electrical Engineering (1)
Optical Sciences and Engineering (2) |
| Skills: |
computer aided design (CAD)
machine design
laser technology
circuit design
programming (e.g., Matlab, LabView)
optical microscopy |
| Additional resources: |
The Wu Lab is well funded by the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the American American Heart Association. The students will have adequate financial resources to design and manufacture a functional and state of the art fluorescence force microscope. |
| Key Contact Name: |
Xiaoyi Wu |
| Key Contact Email: |
xwu@email.arizona.edu |
| Key Contact Phone: |
520-626-5854 |
| Project URL: |
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| Mentor Name: |
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| Mentor Email: |
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| Mentor Phone: |
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