Optical tweezers use the idea similar to l'ou com balla. It consists in placing an egg in a fountain filled with water. When the egg goes over the fountain spout, the latter lifts the egg up and makes it roll over. That's why it's called “the dancing egg.” It's a playful show celebrated the vigil and the Corpus day, principally in the cloister of Barcelona Cathedral, as well as in other catalan public courtyards. The tradition is dated back to 1440.
Consisteix a col·locar un ou dins una pica d'un sortidor, amb aigua a l'interior. Quan l'ou va a parar a damunt del raig d'aigua del brollador, aquest l'enlaira i el fa giravoltar; d'aquí que se'n digui “l'ou com balla”. Es tracta d'un espectacle lúdic que se celebra la vigília i el dia de Corpus, principalment, al Claustre de la Catedral de Barcelona, però també a d'altres patis públics de Catalunya. Aquesta tradició de l'ou com balla data del segle XV, concretament, de l'any 1440.
Group Leader
- Dmitri Petrov, Dmitri.Petrov@icfo.es
PostDoc
- Caitriona Creely (PhD University Dublin, Ireland), January 2004 – December 2006.
- Satish Rao (PhD University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA), starting date May 20, 2007.
PhD Students
- Gajendra P. Singh, September 2002 – July 2006; since August 2006 a postDoc at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida Atlantic University, Florida, USA; since February 2007, a postDoc at MIT, USA.
- Giovanni Volpe, September 2004 – October 2008.
- Sandro Perrone, September 2006 – May 2009.
- Saurabh Raj, Starting date October 2008.
- Monica Marro, Starting date September 2009.
- Ignacio Martinez Sanchez , Starting date September 2009.
Visiting Researchers
- Gregory Kozyreff (Universite Libre de Bruxellas, Belgium), February 2006 – February 2007.
- Andrey Fedyanin (Moscow University, Russia), April 2007, May 2008, December 2008, June 2009, November 2009.
- Filip Beunis (University Gent, Belgium - BOF fellow), October 2008.
Visiting PhD Student
- AnnaChiara De Luca (Universita di Napoli Federico II), October 15, 2006 – November 20, 2006.
- Irina Soboleva (Moscow University, Russia), October 30, 2006 – December 20, 2006.
- Juan Pablo Staforelli (Universidad de Concepcion, Chile), February 15 – August 15, 2007.
- Stefan Balint (PhD-student in Biophysics, University of P.J.Safarik, Kosice, SK), September 4, 2007 – April 30, 2008; starting date September 4, 2008.
- Pål Løvhaugen (Electrical Engineering Department, University of Tromsø, Norway), February 4, 2008 – December 2008.
- Alexander Zhdanov (Moscow University, Russia), May 18, 2008 – June 2008, November – December 2008, November 2009.
- Eugeni Lyubin (Moscow University, Russia), November 2009.
Undergraduate Students
- Sergi Marcadal (UPC), June 2005 – May 2006; Thesis: Creation of Raman Images of living cells in suspension using HOT.
- Nereida Rodriguez (UPC), June 2005 – January 2006.
- Raul Alcaide (UPC), 2005 – 2006.
- Asier Elejalde (UPC), January 2006 – January 2007. Thesis: Sistema de trampa de fibra optica para espectroscopia de Raman .
- Ana Morales (UAB), 2005 - 2009. Thesis: Aplicaciones biomediques i biofisiques de les pinces optiques .
- Florian Bluttner.
- Giorgio Volpe (University Padova, Italy), September 2006.
- Josep Mas (UB), July – September 2007; 2007 ICFO Summer Fellow.
- Luisa del Carmen Frias Pliego (University of Sevilla), July – September 2008; Caixa Catalunia ICFO 2008 Summer Fellow.
- Nicolas Rahuel (Master-Student in Images, Sciences and Technologies of Informations (ISTI), University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, FR), March 10, 2009 – August 31, 2009. Thesis: Digital Spiral Imaging of Miscrospheres .
- Monica Marro (Master in Photonics Project 2009, Fundacio CELLEX Barcelona), April 15 – July 15, 2009. Thesis: "Emodin diffusion in cancerous living cells studied by means of Raman spectroscopy enhanced by plasmon effects"
- Ioan Stan (Master in Photonics Project 2009, Fundacio CELLEX Barcelona), April 15 – July 15, 2009.
- David Frigola (University of Barcelona), July – September 2009; Caixa Catalunia ICFO 2008 Summer Fellow.
Projects
1. Raman Spectroscopy of Single Living Cells
Raman spectroscopy permits us to get time- and spatial resolved information on biochemical and biophysical processes in single living cells.
2. Combining Raman spectroscopy and Photonic Force Microscopy
Correlation of forces measurements with structural and chemical information reveals new insights in mechanics of single living cells.
3. Photonic Force Microscope as a Spectrometer
We study recoil effects due to the fluorescence or Raman emission when active molecules are proximal to, or adsorbed on the PFM probe.
4. Noise-Assisted Effects in Physics and Biophysics Studied by the Technique of Optical Traps
Using optical traps we study the noise assisted phenomena with two sources of noise: a thermal noise and an external correlated noise.
5. Electrophoresis in an optical trap
We study electrical states of single living cells and colloids detecting their response on electrical field of different frequencies.
