Soft lithography, cell engineering, microfluidics & lab-on-chip, supramolecular organisation, high resolution structural and optical characterization.

Our soft lithography laboratory provides material fabrication and characterization for bio engineering, small cheap microfluidic devices, functional medical diagnostic and treatment and environmental applications. Our laboratory covers both development of structures (soft-lithography based setup through casting of elastomeric materials such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on a master) materials characterizations (Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), contact angle analyzer) and modification of the wetting properties and cleaning of substrates (Benchtop plasma cleaner, Contact printer).

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Micron sized beads can be trapped in regions of high light intensity. A laser beam wavefront can be sculpted by a computer generated hologram and focused on an almost arbitrary intensity distribution. We’re working on applications of holographic optical micromanipulation to microfluidics, statistical mechanics, colloidal science.Life at the mesoscopic scale can be much different than our macroscopic world. Fluids flow without inertia, liquid interfaces can be as hard as walls, thermal agitation of the environment kicks so strongly that objects wander around restlessly. We’re interested in colloidal interactions, complex rheology of suspensions, surface phenomena.

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The Theory Lab focuses on computational and mathematical analysis of (i) aging dynamics in complex fluids, (ii) disordered and glassy systems, (iii) photonics in random media, (iv) quantitative and systems biology.

The chemical facility is equipped for the processing and manipulation of molecular and biological materials of various nature. The laboratory is provided with chemical hood and chemical safety cabinets for the management and the use of organic/inorganic solvents and molecular compounds. It also has all the necessary equipment for the fabrication and processing of lab-on-chip devices using soft lithography, microfluidics, controlled deposition of films from liquid phase, optimization of energy properties at solid interfaces, active matter experiments. The main instruments present are: oven, spin-coater, hot-plate, ultrasound bath, oxygen plasma cleaner, centrifuges, mixers, analytical balances, glove box.

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