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Small unilamellar lipid vesicles (SUVs) are sub-100 nm spherical vesicles self-assembled from lipid molecules in an aqueous environment. Liposomes as such attract attention as efficient encapsulants owing to their unique set of properties. Their advantages have already been extensively utilized in targeted drug delivery. Unlike the microscopic vesicles that are already in commercial use, much smaller SUVs are not commonly explored, but nevertheless hold much promise in biosynthetic research and nanotechnology. The potential for nanoscale compartimentalization and spatial organization of cargo, reactants, or signal-bearing moieties is a crucial step towards fully addressable and fully controllable artificial molecular systems. The potential of SUVs is further emphasized by DNA nanotechnology, employing compatible methodology to hybridize DNA and SUVs into functional and programmable systems. This project aims to explore some of the capabilities of SUVs to encapsulate various cargo, and to noninvasively manipulate it. Finally, ways of transfer of material between individual vesicles using DNA origami nanopores will be investigated.

Your research plan and methods involved

1. SUV preparation (dry lipid hydration, sonication, extrusion)
2. SUV characterization (dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy)
3. Encapsulation of material in SUVs (preparation of gold nanoparticles, SUV purification)
4. Fluorimetric measurements of SUV-encapsulated fluorophores (fluorescence-quenching, FRET)
5. Fluorophore transfer between SUVs (DNA origami design and assembly)

Contact: Prof. Dr. Laura Na Liu (E-Mail), 2nd Physics Institute, Room 5-550, phone: 0711 685 65218.
Contact: Dr. Marko Skugor (E-Mail), 2nd Physics Institute, Room 5-515, phone: 0711 685 65287.

What are metamaterials and metasurfaces?

The prefix meta indicates that the characteristics and properties of the materials are beyond what one can find in nature. Metamaterials are artificially crafted materials that mainly derive their properties from the constituent micro- and nanostructures, rather than their chemical compositions. The building blocks of metamaterials are artificial 'atoms' that can be tailored in shape, size, orientation and other structural parameters. In particular, the 2D versions of metamaterials, called metasurfaces, have received tremendous interest in the past decade. In the field of optical metasurfaces, many breakthroughs have been accomplished based on ultrathin and subwavelength optical platforms, including anomalous refraction/transmission, lensing, vortex beam generation, holography, among others.

Recently, a new trend has emerged to build dynamically tunable metasurface devices in response to external stimuli, e.g. electric fields, chemical treatment, temperature change or light exposure, just to name a few. The tool box to achieve optical metasurfaces with dynamic multifunctionality is very rich and this outlines an exciting playground for creative ideas and cross-links to many scientific fields.

Following the spirit of our group by linking physics and chemistry together, we have recently demonstrated several prototypes of electrochemically tunable metasurface devices, wherein nanoscale meta-atoms are functionalized with conducting polymers. Such polymers can be switched upon electric and chemical stimuli to various states. This opens a pathway towards a plethora of dynamic metasurfaces with fascinating optical functionalities, such as switchable anomalous refraction, meta-holography, virtual and augmented reality.

 Your Project: Chemical switching of conducting polymers to control metasurfaces

One interesting scheme to control the material properties of conducting polymers is through their surrounding chemical environment. In turn, this can be utilized to modulate the optical response of polymer-coated nanostructures, which are the building blocks of a dynamic metasurface. The scope of this project is to investigate chemically-controlled metasurfaces for a variety of optical applications.

Contact: Dr. Frank Neubrech (E-Mail), 2nd Physics Institute, Room 5-555, phone: 0711 685 65222.

What are metamaterials and metasurfaces?

The prefix meta indicates that the characteristics and properties of the materials are beyond what one can find in nature. Metamaterials are artificially crafted materials that mainly derive their properties from the constituent micro- and nanostructures, rather than their chemical compositions. The building blocks of metamaterials are artificial 'atoms' that can be tailored in shape, size, orientation and other structural parameters. In particular, the 2D versions of metamaterials, called metasurfaces, have received tremendous interest in the past decade. In the field of optical metasurfaces, many breakthroughs have been accomplished based on ultrathin and subwavelength optical platforms, including anomalous refraction/transmission, lensing, vortex beam generation, holography, among others.

Recently, a new trend has emerged to build dynamically tunable metasurface devices in response to external stimuli, e.g. electric fields, chemical treatment, temperature change or light exposure, just to name a few. The tool box to achieve optical metasurfaces with dynamic multifunctionality is very rich and this outlines an exciting playground for creative ideas and cross-links to many scientific fields.

Following the spirit of our group by linking physics and chemistry together, we have recently demonstrated several prototypes of electrochemically tunable metasurface devices, wherein nanoscale meta-atoms are functionalized with conducting polymers. Such polymers can be switched upon electric and chemical stimuli to various states. This opens a pathway towards a plethora of dynamic metasurfaces with fascinating optical functionalities, such as switchable anomalous refraction, meta-holography, virtual and augmented reality.

Your Project: Electrochemical deposition of conducting polymers on metasurfaces

The scope of this project is to explore different conducting polymers and their optimized deposition conditions to modulate the optical properties of metasurfaces. It is also associated with optical characterizations of the polymer-coated nanostructures using dark field microscopy and structural characterizations of the nanostructures using atomic force microscopy.

Contact: Dr. Frank Neubrech (E-Mail), 2nd Physics Institute, Room 5-555, phone: 0711 685 65222.

What are metamaterials and metasurfaces?

The prefix meta indicates that the characteristics and properties of the materials are beyond what one can find in nature. Metamaterials are artificially crafted materials that mainly derive their properties from the constituent micro- and nanostructures, rather than their chemical compositions. The building blocks of metamaterials are artificial 'atoms' that can be tailored in shape, size, orientation and other structural parameters. In particular, the 2D versions of metamaterials, called metasurfaces, have received tremendous interest in the past decade. In the field of optical metasurfaces, many breakthroughs have been accomplished based on ultrathin and subwavelength optical platforms, including anomalous refraction/transmission, lensing, vortex beam generation, holography, among others.

Recently, a new trend has emerged to build dynamically tunable metasurface devices in response to external stimuli, e.g. electric fields, chemical treatment, temperature change or light exposure, just to name a few. The tool box to achieve optical metasurfaces with dynamic multifunctionality is very rich and this outlines an exciting playground for creative ideas and cross-links to many scientific fields.

Following the spirit of our group by linking physics and chemistry together, we have recently demonstrated several prototypes of electrochemically tunable metasurface devices, wherein nanoscale meta-atoms are functionalized with conducting polymers. Such polymers can be switched upon electric and chemical stimuli to various states. This opens a pathway towards a plethora of dynamic metasurfaces with fascinating optical functionalities, such as switchable anomalous refraction, meta-holography, virtual and augmented reality.

Your Project: Electrochemical deposition of conducting polymers on metasurfaces

The scope of this project is to explore different conducting polymers and their optimized deposition conditions to modulate the optical properties of metasurfaces. It is also associated with optical characterizations of the polymer-coated nanostructures using dark field microscopy and structural characterizations of the nanostructures using atomic force microscopy.

Contact: Dr. Frank Neubrech (E-Mail), 2nd Physics Institute, Room 5-555, phone: 0711 685 65222.

What are metamaterials and metasurfaces?

The prefix meta indicates that the characteristics and properties of the materials are beyond what one can find in nature. Metamaterials are artificially crafted materials that mainly derive their properties from the constituent micro- and nanostructures, rather than their chemical compositions. The building blocks of metamaterials are artificial 'atoms' that can be tailored in shape, size, orientation and other structural parameters. In particular, the 2D versions of metamaterials, called metasurfaces, have received tremendous interest in the past decade. In the field of optical metasurfaces, many breakthroughs have been accomplished based on ultrathin and subwavelength optical platforms, including anomalous refraction/transmission, lensing, vortex beam generation, holography, among others.

Recently, a new trend has emerged to build dynamically tunable metasurface devices in response to external stimuli, e.g. electric fields, chemical treatment, temperature change or light exposure, just to name a few. The tool box to achieve optical metasurfaces with dynamic multifunctionality is very rich and this outlines an exciting playground for creative ideas and cross-links to many scientific fields.

Following the spirit of our group by linking physics and chemistry together, we have recently demonstrated several prototypes of electrochemically tunable metasurface devices, wherein nanoscale meta-atoms are functionalized with conducting polymers. Such polymers can be switched upon electric and chemical stimuli to various states. This opens a pathway towards a plethora of dynamic metasurfaces with fascinating optical functionalities, such as switchable anomalous refraction, meta-holography, virtual and augmented reality.

 Your Project: Chemical switching of conducting polymers to control metasurfaces

One interesting scheme to control the material properties of conducting polymers is through their surrounding chemical environment. In turn, this can be utilized to modulate the optical response of polymer-coated nanostructures, which are the building blocks of a dynamic metasurface. The scope of this project is to investigate chemically-controlled metasurfaces for a variety of optical applications.

Contact: Dr. Frank Neubrech (E-Mail), 2nd Physics Institute, Room 5-555, phone: 0711 685 65222.

What is DNA origami?

Our group uses DNA-nanotechnology, particular DNA-origami, to assemble functional and three dimensional nanostructures. Classical origami is known as the art of paper folding with origins reaching back over centuries. Nowadays the origami technique is transferred to the nanometerscale, where DNA strands replace paper. The DNA-strands can be folded - similar to the art of classical folding - and DNA-origami nanostructures are created. The nanoobject can be modified further, for example molecules or other nanoobjects can be attached to specific locations on the DNA origami with high precision hardly possible to achieve with classical preparation methods. Moreover, DNA origami allows for a dynamic control of the arrangement of the attached nanoobjects or the conformation of the DNA origami itself. 

Your Project: Microfluidic devices

In your thesis you will learn about DNA origami assembly and setup an microfluidic device to enclose the DNA origami in micrometer-sized droplets. 

Contact: Dr. Frank Neubrech (E-Mail), 2nd Physics Institute, Room 5-555, phone: 0711 685 65222.