Development and exploitation of a microscopy system for (bio)mechanical characterization by photothermal and photoacoustic methods

This PhD project aims at exploring PA (photoacoustic)and PT (photothermal) measurement approaches for probing biological cells on a microscale with the motivation to tackle the facing challenges in experimental cell mechanics, including the assessment of contact mechanics at the cell-substrate (cell adhesion) and intracellular mechanics (viscoelasticity and compressibility).The general goal of the project is i) to establish a PA and PT microscopic platform enabling non-contact and non-invasive probing/imaging of both cell-interface adhesion and intracellular viscoelasticity and ii) to explore the potential and viability of the developed PA-PT platform towards applications in mechanobiology by collaborating with biophysicists and cell biologists at KU Leuven.