Optical Trapping Laboratory

The Optical Trapping Laboratory specializes in the mechanical characterization of individual molecules and microscale materials. Expertise ranges from single-molecule measurements to microrheology. The laboratory houses state-of-the-art instrumentation, including a centrifuge force microscope and optical trapping instruments, one a dynamic holographic optical tweezers instrument useful for characterizing soft materials (such as gels and matrices) that exhibit 2- and 3-dimensional microscale heterogeneity.  In characterizing the growth of materials, expertise includes monitoring the development of viscoelastic heterogeneity at high bandwidth (>1 kHz) over time scales from seconds to hours. The comprehensive wet lab neighbouring the optical tweezers instrumentation means that biological and chemical samples can be prepared and characterized in-house.