Physics & Astronomy Colloquium

3:30 PM, Thursday, October 25, 2007
Room 155, Chem-Phys Building

Dr. Eric Mazur
Department of Physics
Harvard University

"Subcellular surgery and nanosurgery''

We use femtosecond laser pulses to manipulate sub-cellular structures inside live and fixed cells. Using only a few nanojoules of laser pulse energy, we are able to selectively disrupt individual mitochondria in live bovine capillary epithelial cells, and cleave single actin fibers in the cell cytoskeleton network of fixed human fibro-blast cells. We have also used the technique to micromanipulate the neural network of C. Elegans, a small nematode. Our laser scalpel can snip individual axons without causing any damage to surrounding tissue, allowing us to study the function of individual neurons with a precision that was not achievable before.

Refreshments will be served in CP 179 at 3:15 PM