Andrew Meek

University of Cologne | UOC · Humboldt Centre for Nano- and Biophotonics

Mechanical forces and stiffness play key roles in the health and development of cells and tissue, but despite the physical connection between these quantities, they cannot be monitored in parallel in most cases. Here, we introduce a fully integrated microscope that combines a method for high-resolution cell force imaging (elastic resonator interfer...

During locomotion, soft-bodied terrestrial animals solve complex control problems at substrate interfaces, but our understanding of how they achieve this without rigid components remains incomplete. Here, we develop new all-optical methods based on optical interference in a deformable substrate to measure ground reaction forces (GRFs) with micromet...

During locomotion, soft-bodied terrestrial animals solve complex control problems at substrate interfaces, but our understanding of how they achieve this without rigid components remains incomplete. Here, we develop new all-optical methods based on optical interference in a deformable substrate to measure ground reaction forces (GRFs) with micromet...

During locomotion, soft-bodied terrestrial animals solve complex control problems at substrate interfaces, but our understanding of how they achieve this without rigid components remains incomplete. Here, we develop new all-optical methods based on optical interference in a deformable substrate to measure ground reaction forces (GRFs) with micromet...

Soft-bodied animals must interact with their substrates in order to generate the forces required for locomotion. Traditionally, measuring such forces has been difficult due to the lack of techniques with sufficient spatial, temporal and force sensitivity resolutions. By contrast, the cellular mechanobiology community has developed a suite of techni...

During locomotion, soft-bodied terrestrial animals solve complex control problems at the substrate interface without needing rigid components, a capability that promises to inspire improved soft-robot design. However, the understanding of how these animals move remains fragmented, in part due to an inability to measure the involved ground reaction...

Core Questions: What are the ground reaction forces generated by larvae during movement? How do larvae mitigate excess friction from denticles? How do larvae overcome reaction forces to prevent interference of progression?

Important dynamic processes in mechanobiology remain elusive due to a lack of tools to image the small cellular forces at play with sufficient speed and throughput. Here, we introduce a fast, interference-based force imaging method that uses the illumination of an elastic deformable microcavity with two rapidly alternating wavelengths to map forces...

Fluorescent proteins have emerged as an attractive gain material for lasers, especially for devices requiring biocompatibility. However, due to their optical properties, integration with distributed feedback (DFB) resonators is not readily achievable. Here, a DFB laser with enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) as the gain material is demonstra...

The ability to monitor mechanical forces applied by cells is crucial to advance our understanding of a range of fundamental biological processes. Today, various biophysical techniques exist to investigate different types of interactions between cells and the substratum they adhere to (e.g. Traction Force Microscopy), each having a specific set of a...

The ability to monitor mechanical forces applied by cells is crucial to advance our understanding of a range of fundamental biological processes. Today, various biophysical techniques exist to investigate different types of interactions between cells and the substratum they adhere to (e.g. Traction Force Microscopy), each having a specific set of a...

We report on the temporal and spatial fluctuations in the atmospheric brightness in the narrow band between Meinel emission lines at 1191.3 nm using an R=320 near-infrared instrument. We present the instrument design and implementation, followed by a detailed analysis of data taken over the course of a night from Table Mountain Observatory. The abs...