Center for Nanotechnology Innovation

3 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

JoVE Journal

Fabrication, Operation and Flow Visualization in Surface-acoustic-wave-driven Acoustic-counterflow Microfluidics

Marco Travagliati^1,2, Richie Shilton¹, Fabio Beltram², Marco Cecchini²

¹NEST Center for Nanotechnology Innovation, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, ²NEST, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR

In this video we first describe fabrication and operation procedures of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) acoustic counterflow device. We then demonstrate an experimental setup that allows for both qualitative flow visualization and quantitative analysis of complex flows within the SAW pumping device.

Education

Synthesis, Cellular Delivery and In vivo Application of Dendrimer-based pH Sensors

Lorenzo Albertazzi¹, Barbara Storti², Marco Brondi², Sebastian Sulis Sato², Gian Michele Ratto³, Giovanni Signore⁴, Fabio Beltram²

¹Institute for Complex Molecular Systems & Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology & NEST, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR, ²NEST, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR & IIT@NEST, Center for Nanotechnology Innovation, ³NEST, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR, ⁴IIT@NEST, Center for Nanotechnology Innovation

Fluorescence sensors are powerful tools in life science. Here we describe a methodology to synthesize and use dendrimer-based fluorescent sensors to measure pH in living cells and in vivo. The dendritic scaffold enhances the properties of conjugated fluorescent dyes leading to improved sensing properties.

Bioengineering

From Fast Fluorescence Imaging to Molecular Diffusion Law on Live Cell Membranes in a Commercial Microscope

Carmine Di Rienzo^1,2, Enrico Gratton³, Fabio Beltram¹, Francesco Cardarelli²

¹NEST Laboratory, Scuola Normale Superiore, ²Center for Nanotechnology Innovation, Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia, ³Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine

Spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of plasma membrane proteins and lipids is a hot topic in biology. Here this issue is addressed by a spatio-temporal image fluctuation analysis that provides conceptually the same physical quantities of single particle tracking, but it uses small molecular labels and standard microscopy setups.