Nanoscience for Medicine

Group Leaders:

Interfaces, mechanical properties and dynamics of biological systems and nanostructures: basic science of biocompatibility and nanomedicine.

Nanomedicine
Nanostructure-based drug delivery, nanotoxicity
Scanning Probe techniques in Biology
Membranes and membrane proteins
Nanomechanics, high resolution AFM
Single Molecule Nanomechanics
DNA structure and conformational dynamics
Cell mechanics
Mechanical properties of living cells

More about Biological Physics

Research highlights

Nanotechnology uncovers the mechanical complexion of live cells

People

Sonia Antoranz Contera

RCUK Academic Fellow
Sonia Trigueros

James Martin Senior Research Fellow
Amadeus Stevenson

DPhil Candidate

Publications

Three strategies to stabilise nearly monodispersed silver nanoparticles in aqueous solution.
Nanoscale Res Lett 7 (2012) 151-
AP Stevenson, D Blanco Bea, S Civit et al.
Characterization of the single-stranded DNA binding protein pV(VGJΦ) of VGJΦ phage from Vibrio cholerae...
Biochim Biophys Acta 1814 (2011) 1107-1112
A Falero, A Caballero, S Trigueros et al.
Mapping nanomechanical properties of live cells using multi-harmonic atomic force microscopy.
Nat Nanotechnol 6 (2011) 809-814
A Raman, S Trigueros, A Cartagena et al.
Temperature-dependent phase transitions in zeptoliter volumes of a complex biological membrane
NANOTECHNOLOGY 22 (2011) 055709
MP Nikiforov, S Hohlbauch, WP King et al.
Bilayer-Mediated Clustering and Functional Interaction of MscL Channels
BIOPHYS J 100 (2011) 1252-1260
SL Grage, AM Keleshian, T Turdzeladze et al.
Mapping nanomechanical properties of live cells using multi-harmonic atomic force microscopy
Nature Nanotechnology 6 (2011) 809-814
A Raman, S Trigueros, A Cartagena et al.
Controlled ionic condensation at the surface of a native extremophile membrane
NANOSCALE 2 (2010) 222-229
SA Contera, K Voitchovsky, JF Ryan
Direct mapping of the solid-liquid adhesion energy with subnanometre resolution
NAT NANOTECHNOL 5 (2010) 401-405
K Voitchovsky, JJ Kuna, SA Contera et al.
mwr Xer site-specific recombination is hypersensitive to DNA supercoiling.
Nucleic Acids Res 37 (2009) 3580-3587
S Trigueros, T Tran, N Sorto et al.
Lateral coupling and cooperative dynamics in the function of the native membrane protein bacteriorhodopsi...
SOFT MATTER 5 (2009) 4899-4904
K Voitchovsky, SA Contera, JF Ryan
Dynamics of bacteriorhodopsin 2D crystal observed by high-speed atomic force microscopy.
J Struct Biol 167 (2009) 153-158
H Yamashita, K Voïtchovsky, T Uchihashi et al.
Effect of acid treatment on the structure and electrical properties of nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon ...
J PHYS CHEM C 112 (2008) 1908-1912
HJ Burch, E Brown, SA Contera et al.
Doping of carbon nanotubes with nitrogen improves protein coverage whilst retaining correct conformation
NANOTECHNOLOGY 19 (2008) 384001
HJ Burch, SA Contera, MRR de Planque et al.
Identification of specific local electrostatic and steric forces underlying bacteriorhodopsin structure a...
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL (2007) 75A-75A
K Voitchovsky, SA Contera, JF Ryan
Role of replicative transposons in plasmids' host range expansion
PLASMID 57 (2007) 231-231
DB Buii, N Sorto, S Trigueros et al.
Lipid bilayer functionalization of multiwalled carbon nanotubes
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL (2007) 552A-552A
MRR de Planque, NC Toledo, SA Contera et al.
beta-sheet structured beta-amyloid(1-40) perturbs phosphatidylcholine model membranes
J MOL BIOL 368 (2007) 982-997
MRR de Planque, V Raussens, SA Contera et al.
Electrostatic and steric interactions determine bacteriorhodopsin single-molecule biomechanics
BIOPHYS J 93 (2007) 2024-2037
K Voitchovsky, SA Contera, JF Ryan
Production of highly knotted DNA by means of cosmid circularization inside phage capsids.
BMC Biotechnol 7 (2007) 94-
S Trigueros, J Roca
The molecular forces that trap, release and transport protons at the surface of bacteriorhodopsin
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL (2007) 555A-555A
SA Contera, K Voitchovsky, H Yamashita et al.
Lipid-modulated assembly of magnetized iron-filled carbon nanotubes in millimeter-scale structures
JAPANESE JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS PART 1-REGULAR PAPERS BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS & REVIEW PAPERS 46 (2007) 2799-2805
NC Toledo, MRR de Planque, SA Contera et al.
Electrical conductance and breakdown in individual CNx multiwalled nanotubes
Applied Physics Letters 89 (2006) 143110 3pp-
S Antoranz Contera, E. Brown, H. Burch et al.
Differential stiffness and lipid mobility in the leaflets of purple membranes.
Biophys J 90 (2006) 2075-2085
K Voïtchovsky, S Antoranz Contera, M Kamihira et al.
Differences in resolution of mwr-containing plasmid dimers mediated by the Klebsiella pneumoniae and Esch...
J Bacteriol 188 (2006) 2812-2820
D Bui, J Ramiscal, S Trigueros et al.
Beta-sheet structured oligomers of Alzheimer's beta-amyloid peptide perturb phosphatidylcholine model mem...
FEBS JOURNAL 273 (2006) 240-240
MRR de Planque, SA Contera, V Raussens et al.
Characterization of beta-amyloid(1-40) incorporated in model membranes
FEBS JOURNAL 272 (2005) 235-236
MR de Planque, SA Contera, GP Mendes et al.
Cell volume increase in murine MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts attaching onto biocompatible tantalum observed by...
Eur Cell Mater 10 (2005) 61-68
LK Andersen, SA Contera, J Justesen et al.
Unfolding and extraction of a transmembrane alpha-helical peptide
BIOPHYS J 89 (2005) 3129-3140
SA Contera, V Lemaitre, MRR de Planque et al.
Evidence of asymmetry in cohesion and assembly of both leaflets of purple membranes
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL 88 (2005) 507A-507A
K Voitchovsky, SA Contera, M Kamihira et al.
Extraction of an alpha-helical peptide from a lipid bilayer
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL 88 (2005) 356A-356A
SA Contera, V Lemaitre, MRR de Planque et al.
Interactions between transmembrane beta-amyloid(1-40) and phosphatidylcholine bilayers
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL 88 (2005) 421A-421A
MRR de Planque, GP Mendes, SA Contera et al.
DNA knots reveal a chiral organization of DNA in phage capsids.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102 (2005) 9165-9169
J Arsuaga, M Vazquez, P McGuirk et al.
Role of the Trans-activation Response Element in Dimerization of HIV-1 RNA
Journal of Biological Chemistry 279 (2004) 22243 – 22249-
S Antoranz Contera, B. Knudsen, C.K.Damgaard et al.
Asymmetric removal of supercoils suggests how topoisomerase II simplifies DNA topology.
J Mol Biol 335 (2004) 723-731
S Trigueros, J Salceda, I Bermúdez et al.
AFM and QCM-D studies in liquid of fibrinogen and vitronectin on Ti and Ta surfaces
Transactions - 7th World Biomaterials Congress (2004) 788-788
AG Hemmersam, SA Contera, M Foss et al.
Ambient STM and in situ AFM study of nitrite reductase proteins adsorbed on gold and graphite
ULTRAMICROSCOPY 97 (2003) 65-72
SA Contera, H Iwasaki, S Suzuki
Cloning, functional analysis and post-transcriptional regulation of a type II DNA topoisomerase from Leis...
Nucleic Acids Res 31 (2003) 4917-4928
T Hanke, MJ Ramiro, S Trigueros et al.
Knotting probability of DNA molecules confined in restricted volumes: DNA knotting in phage capsids.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99 (2002) 5373-5377
J Arsuaga, M Vázquez, S Trigueros et al.
Scanning tunnelling microscopy images of the copper-containing amine oxidase from Arthrobacter globiformi...
JPN J APPL PHYS 1 41 (2002) 3916-3921
SA Contera, T Okajima, H Iwasaki
Imaging the proteins pseudoazurin and apo-pseudoazurin on gold by STM in air: effect of the bias voltage
ULTRAMICROSCOPY 91 (2002) 231-243
SA Contera, H Iwasaki
Failure to relax negative supercoiling of DNA is a primary cause of mitotic hyper-recombination in topois...
J Biol Chem 277 (2002) 37207-37211
S Trigueros, J Roca
A GyrB-GyrA fusion protein expressed in yeast cells is able to remove DNA supercoils but cannot substitut...
Genes Cells 7 (2002) 249-257
S Trigueros, J Roca
Novel display of knotted DNA molecules by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.
Nucleic Acids Res 29 (2001) E67-E67
S Trigueros, J Arsuaga, ME Vazquez et al.
Atomic surface characterisation and modification of the layered compounds Bi2Se3, Bi1.9Sb0.1Se3 and Bi1.6...
ULTRAMICROSCOPY 86 (2001) 55-61
SA Contera, T Yoshinobu, H Iwasaki et al.
Circular minichromosomes become highly recombinogenic in topoisomerase-deficient yeast cells.
J Biol Chem 276 (2001) 2243-2248
S Trigueros, J Roca
Nanotribology of clean and oxide-covered silicon surfaces using atomic force microscopy
JPN J APPL PHYS 1 39 (2000) 272-274
W Moon, SA Contera, T Yoshinobu et al.
Formation of nano-pyramids of layered materials with AFM
ULTRAMICROSCOPY 82 (2000) 165-170
SA Contera, T Yoshinobu, H Iwasaki et al.
Mesoscopic scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy study of the misfit-layer compounds (LaSe)(x)Nb...
SURF SCI 441 (1999) 384-390
SA Contera, T Yoshinobu, H Iwasaki et al.
Scanning tunneling microscopy study of the misfit layer compounds (LaSe)(x)NbSe2 and (PbSe)(x)NbSe2
JPN J APPL PHYS 1 37 (1998) 6157-6160
SA Contera, T Yoshinobu, H Iwasaki et al.
STM study of the reactivity of niobium diselenide in air and N-2
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE 130 (1998) 623-628
SA Contera, T Yoshinobu, H Iwasaki et al.