CEMS Faculty

Our research uses transport phenomena and statistical physics to address fundamental issues arising in microfluidics and biophysics. In general, we are interested in the development and modeling of microscale and molecular systems for manipulating biomolecules, in particular DNA. At the same time, we want to use theoretical and experimental tools to understand why these systems work the way they do, and how we can further engineer them for enhanced performance.

Microfluidic electrophoresis of DNA and other biomolecules. With the recent advances in microfabrication techniques and materials design, the types of separation systems that can be conceived and constructed are limited only by the imagination of the engineer designing them. Thus, the question becomes "If we could make anything, what would we make?" Using a mixture of theoretical modeling and experiments, we will systematically answer this question in the context of DNA electrophoresis. In addition to designing separation matrices with optimal properties, we will use single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to understand the separation process at the molecular level.

Biophysics of structured nucleic acids. RNA and single-stranded DNA are capable of folding into relatively complex secondary structures that catalyze a number of important biochemical reactions, most importantly mRNA chain scission. While so-called RNAzymes are naturally occurring and have been optimized over time by natural evolution, DNAzymes are engineered in the lab using directed-evolution protocols. In addition to potential therapeutic applications, DNAzymes have great potential in biotechnology and serve as a model system for biocatalysis. We are interested in understanding the physical principles governing their activity, with the hope of providing guidelines for further engineering these molecules.