Dufrêne Y.

NANOSCALE EXPLORATION OF BIOSYSTEMS

GROUP LEADER

YVES F DUFRENE Profile

Yves F. Dufrêne received his Engineering degree in chemistry and bioindustries in 1991 (at UCL) and his PhD degree in 1996 (UCL). After a postdoc at the Naval Research Laboratory (Washington DC, USA), he became Postdoc Researcher (1998) and then Research Associate (2000) of the FNRS (Laboratory of Chemistry of Interfaces, UCL). The research activity of his Nanobio team is focused on the design, characterization and use of biosurfaces (biomolecules, biomembranes, living cells) on the nanoscale, with the aim to understand biological events such as biomembrane interactions and cell adhesion, and to develop new nanobiotech applications such as biomimetic devices and biosensors.

Fields of expertise: 

  • Nanofabrication of biosurfaces
  • Nanocharacterization of biosurfaces using atomic force microscopy: imaging, molecular recognition studies, single molecule manipulations
  • Applications to biomedicine (e.g., drug testing, pathogen-host interactions, biosensors)

 

Unité de Chimie des Interfaces

Bt. Boltzmann (a.025)
2/18 Croix du Sud
B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve-Belgium

 

 

Email :
Tel. +32 10 47 36 00
Fax. +32 10 47 20 05

 

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Nanobiotechnology, i.e. the design and study of biological systems on the nanometer scale, is an exciting, growing area for research and development. The growth of nanobiotechnology directly relies on the development of novel nanofabrication (e.g. self-assembly) and nanocharacterization (e.g. scanning probe microscopy) methods.

Applications of nanobiotechnology include:

  • Understanding and control of cellular interactions (adhesion, aggregation) at the level of individual cells

  • Creation of nanobiostructures by self-assembly and by scanning probe devices 

  • Manipulation of single biomolecules, the development of nanobiomimetic devices and of biosensors

We are studying the properties of biointerfaces - biomolecules, biomembranes, living cells - at the nanometer level with the aim to gain insight into the molecular bases of biological events such as protein adsorption, drug-membrane interactions and cell adhesion, and to develop new nanobiotech applications.

The following challenges are being addressed:

  • Nanofabrication of bio/organic surfaces 

  • Nanocharacterization of the structural and physical properties of biosurfaces using atomic force microscopy (AFM) combined with biophysical/cellular approaches 

  • Design of nanobiomimetic structures and devices for biomedical applications (drug testing, pathogen-host interactions, biosensors).

  

AFM images of living yeast (left) and bacterial (right) cells

Key publications:

  • HINTERDORFER P, DUFRÊNE Y, Detection and localization of single molecular recognition events using atomic force microscopy., Nature methods, 3, 2006, 347-355. 
  •  DUPRES V, MENOZZI F, LOCHT C, CLARE B, ABBOTT N, CUENOT S, BOMPARD C, RAZE D, DUFRÊNE Y, Nanoscale mapping and functional analysis of individual adhesins on living bacteria., Nature Methods, 2, 2005, 515-520.
  • DUFRÊNE Y, Using nanotechniques to explore microbial surfaces., Nature Review Microbiology, 2, 2004, 451-460.

More on reserach activities, staff, and publications

 

| 29/10/2009 |