Abstract:

Plasmonics enables us to detect biological molecules even in extremely minute amounts using subwavelength light confinement and enhancement near metallic surfaces. Coupled with microfluidics, these detection techniques can lead to powerful methods to quantify molecules in situ and in real time. In this talk I will elaborate on design and fabrication of plasmonic biosensors and their applications in conventional vibrational spectroscopy. I will also introduce a novel plasmo-fluidic platform to quantify the secretion of cell signaling molecules in a high-throughput manner using the case of single immune cells as an example. These microfluidic devices are based on membrane valve technology and thus are fully automated, and allow measurements in parallel. The quantitative understanding of biological cell signaling using novel systems is fastly developing and the presented device provides a competent approach for accurate modeling of immune functions.

Short Biography of the Speaker:

Serap Aksu received her BS degree from Sabanci University in 2008 and PhD degree from Boston University in 2013, both in Materials Science and Engineering. Later she joined ETH Zurich Department of Biosystems Science  and Engineering as a postdoctoral research fellow. Since 2017, She is an Assistant Professor in University Physics Department. She is the recipient of ETH Zurich Postdoctoral Fellowship, Boston University Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award and Newport Spectra-Physics Research Excellence Grant.