Development of bioengineering and optical technologies to elucidate the biophysical interactions of laser light on cells

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This is a PhD research project in Bioengineering & BioSciences. With the increased use of lasers in medicine, in particular in the UV and deep UV for germicidal applications, comes the challenges to assess genotoxicity and identify hazardous effects of novel laser sources. Different in vitro and in vivo methodologies assess various endpoints such as change of chromosome number or structure, point mutations or DNA strand breaks. In this PhD project, we will employ bioengineering and biophysics tools and techniques (microfluidics, microfabrication, novel optical fibres, advanced microscopy) to understand how different laser exposure conditions affect molecules and structures of human and bacterial cells. By exploiting these micro engineering and optical technologies we will develop new devices and procedures enabling measurements that allow us to better understand and quantify the mechanisms of damage due to laser exposure at molecular, sub cellular and cellular levels. For example, bioAFM may be combined with microfluidics to visualise mechanical perturbations of cell membrane, and live cell fluorescence microscopy may be combined with microfluidics to quantify the time dependence of DNA damage to cells. Understanding the effects of laser light on bacteria and on human cells can guide the use of these laser sources in clinical applications.