School of Physics, Engineering and Technology
- School of Physics, Engineering and Technology
- Research and innovation
- Physics of Life
- Next Generation Optical Microscopy
Next-generation optical microscopy for biological systems
- We build novel, custom microscopes to investigate the physics of biological systems
- We use ideas from fluid dynamics and soft matter physics to understand the behaviour of organelles, cells, and tissues
- We specialise in the use of holographic imaging to capture the motion of fast-moving microscopic subjects in 3D
The next-generation optical microscopy team is headed by Laurence Wilson, Senior Lecturer (equivalent to US Associate Professor) in Biological Physics.
Our group in the School of Physics, Electronics and Engineering at the University of York designs microscopy techniques for interrogating biological systems. Our emphasis is in shifting the ‘heavy lifting’ from complicated optical layouts to stripped-down hardware and advanced computational processing algorithms. This makes our imaging hardware more flexible and rugged, and therefore ideal for use in harsh environments (such as salt mines) or for installation in highly controlled environments such as category II/III biocontainment facilities. We relish the opportunity to investigate novel and unusual biological systems into which statistical and soft matter physics can give insight. You can see some examples of our work below
Key Publications
J. Kühn, F.K. Schmidt, N.E. Farthing, F.M. Rossmann, B. Helm, L.G. Wilson, B. Eckhardt & K.M. Thormann. Nat. Commun.9 5369 (2018).
P. Singh, W.E. Uspal, M.N. Popescu, L.G. Wilson & P. Fischer. Adv. Funct. Mater. 1706660 (2018).
F. Jikeli, L. Alvarez, B.M. Friedrich, L.G. Wilson et al., Nat. Commun.6 7985 (2015).
A. Martinez, J. Schwarz-Linek, M. Reufer, L.G. Wilson, A.N. Morozov & W.C.K. Poon. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA111(50) 17771 (2014).
L.G. Wilson, L.M. Carter & S.E. Reece. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA110(47) p.18769 (2013).
L.G. Wilson, V.A. Martinez, J. Schwarz-Linek, J. Tailleur, G. Bryant, P. N. Pusey & W. C. K. Poon. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 018101 (2011).