The course contains three main parts. The first part of the course consists of lectures and seminars. During this time fundamental issues within the relevant subjects are presented and discussed. It is important that the students take active part in the discussion, especially during the seminars. An important goal is to learn how to extract information efficiently from scientific articles. A common theme throughout the course is micro and nanostructures within biology and technology and how they connect to each other.
Orders of magnitude in biology and physics.
Imaging of biological structures: optical microscopy including super resolution microscopy (STE, SORM mfl).
Micro and nanofluidics: separation and analysis of molecules and cells, soft lithography.
Interaction of proteins and cells with nanostructured surfaces: control of motor proteins, growth of axons, antibody-antigen reactions for protein-chip applications.
Interaction of low-dimensional materials with individual cells.
Systems issues: Lab on a chip applications, single-cell studies.
The second part of the course consists of laborative exercises, primarily in our research laboratories. The students are given an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the equipment that is used at the department for biophysics.
Fundamental fluorescence microscopy
Soft lithography and microfluidics
Applications of microfluidics
Flow simulation
Optical tweezers
The last part of the course is a project where the students work individually or in small groups on primarily innovative, yet simple, experiments in a research environment at a location of their choice at the university or outside the university. The projects are defined together with the course coordinator, the project advisors and the students.
