Dr Patrick Mesquida

As a physicist with technical as well as with biophysical focus, I am fascinated by the prospect of miniaturisation and the integration of biological materials such as proteins or cells into technical systems. These goals cannot be achieved by conventional techniques alone and they require a multidisciplinary approach involving expertise from physics, engineering, chemistry and biology.

Things I am particularly interested in are:

• The properties of supramolecular structures of polypeptides such as amyloid or collagen fibrils
• Surface functionalisation and characterisation of solid substrates for biology
• Biocompatible micro- and nanopatterning

Experimental techniques in which I have particular expertise:

• Scanning-probe techniques (Atomic Force Microscopy, Electrical Force Microscopy and related methods)
• Optical Microscopies (Fluorescence Microscopy, Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy, Confocal Microscopy)
• Soft-lithography (Microcontactprinting, Micromolding in capillaries, etc.)
• Surface preparation (Spin-coating, Chemical and Physical Vapour Deposition)
• Differential Scanning Calorimetry
• Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy