The group, which has an increasingly interdisciplinary composition, develops photonic tools to address problems of biological interest. Specifically, the group explore the capabilities of optical tweezers technology for the study of living matter at the molecular and cellular scales.
The systems developed in the group combine fluorescence microscopy, holographic optical manipulation, force measurement and high speed imaging, allowing to reach inside cells and help study their inner processes.
Estela Martín Badosa (Professor Full) estela.martinb(at)ub.edu
Mario Montes Usategui (Associate Professor)
David Maluenda Niubó (Tenure-Track Lecturer)
Jordi Tiana Alsina (Tenure-Track Lecturer)
Artifact-free holographic light shaping through moving acousto-optic holograms. Treptow D., Bola R., Martín-Badosa E., Montes-Usategui M. Scientific Reports. 2021, 11, 1, 21261
Acousto-holographic optical tweezers. Bola R., Treptow D., Marzoa A., Montes-Usategui M., Martín-Badosa E. Optics Letters. 2020, 45(10)
Microscopía de superresolución con haces vectoriales. PID2022-136796OB-I00. IP: Estela Martín Badosa. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (2023-2026)
Microscopio Digital Super-Rápido y Super-Flexible. PID2019-109225RB-I00. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. IP: Estela Martín. (2020-2023)
PASCAL: Microscopi de matriu programable amb filtrat virtual. 2019PROD00129. Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR). IP: Mario Montes. (2020-2022)
The group has two complete optical tweezers setups mounted on vibration-isolated optical tables, and equipped with high power lasers (@1064 nm) and research microscopes (Nikon TE-2000E) for brightfield, phase-contrast, DIC and epifluoresence imaging. For the dynamic manipulation of samples the group has liquid crystal spatial light modulators (Hamamatsu X10468-03) for the creation of holographic trap patterns or, alternatively, acousto-optic deflectors (AA Optoelectronic DTSXY-400-1064) for time-sharing traps. It can be directly measure the forces exerted by the traps from changes in the light momentum (Impetux Optics LUNAM T40-i). Other equipment includes conventional CCD and fast and sensitive EMCCD cameras (Qimaging QICAM, Andor Ixon-860 EMCCD), precision optomechanical components, position-sensitive detectors (PSDs) and a piezo-electric positioning platform (Piezosystem Jena TRITOR 102 SG). The group also have a fully-equipped cell culture laboratory.