Thesis Directors: Prof. L. G. Villanueva Torrijo, Dr V. Brasch
\r\nPhotonics doctoral program
\r\nThesis Nr. 11098
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\r\nTo take part in the public defense, please contact directly the speaker
The Holcim Stiftung offers grants to outstanding young scientists to carry out excellent research (fundamental, applied, PoC and/or market-oriented) and scientific teaching in any discipline and field in Switzerland in view of acquiring a lecturer grade qualification or similar.
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\r\nPriority is given to projects:\r\n
Eine App programmieren? Ein Computerspiel erfinden? Eine Animation gestalten?
\r\nWenn dich eines dieser Dinge interessiert, bist du hier am richtigen Ort! Tausche und teile deine Ideen, lerne zu programmieren und entdecke Informatikberufe.
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\r\nDie Coding Club for Girls Workshops sind für Mädchen im Alter von 11 bis 15 Jahren und die Teilnahme ist kostenlos. Ab der Teilnahme an vier Workshops pro Jahr wird eine Teilnahmebestätigung ausgehändigt.
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\r\nOrt: Brunnmatt - Schule, Basel
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\r\nDatum und Zeit:
\r\n31. Oktober 2026 : 09:30 bis 12:00 oder 13:30 bis 16:00 Uhr // GameDesign
\r\n07. November 2026 : 09:30 bis 12:00 oder 13:30 bis 16:00 Uhr // Pixel Art
\r\n14. November 2026 : 09:30 bis 12:00 oder 13:30 bis 16:00 Uhr // Scratch-me
\r\n21. November 2026 : 09:30 bis 12:00 oder 13:30 bis 16:00 Uhr // Schildkröte in Python
\r\nDie Inhalte der Workshops sind untenstehend beschrieben.
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\r\nBedingungen\r\n
Weekly BioEngineering Talks (Lunch Provided)
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\r\nINVITED SPEAKER:
\r\nFrom single-molecule biophysics with Graphene Energy Transfer to Brownian DNA computing
\r\nProf. Dr. Philip Tinnefeld, LMU Munich
\r\nHost: Prof. Aleksandra Radenovic
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\r\nAbstract:
\r\nGraphene-on-glass coverslips are an emerging microscopy platform as resonant energy transfer to graphene offers an axial ruler in the 5-40 nm range. I present single molecule biophysics experiments of protein/DNA interactions using Graphene Energy Transfer (GET) in combination with the discovery that dsDNA adopts a vertical orientation on graphene. Axial information of DNA structure and protein positions is deduced from GET-efficiency and xy-information is obtained e.g. by photon-efficient pMINFLUX revealing simultaneous bending and torsion of enzyme induced DNA conformations. Finally, I discuss how multi-color smFRET with dark quenchers probes states of DNA nanorobots and Brownian DNA computers that work close to the thermodynamic optimum.
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\r\nBio:
\r\nPhilip Tinnefeld is a Professor of Physical Chemistry at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, leading a highly interdisciplinary NanoBioSciences research group that brings together molecular biology, biophysics, nanophotonics, and physical chemistry. He specialises in single-molecule detection and super-resolution microscopy, and he uses DNA origami to build modular nanoscale devices—such as force sensors, fluorescence amplifiers, and molecular robots—that can sense, compute, and respond autonomously. Under his leadership, the lab is also developing advanced biosensing platforms and imaging tools by combining DNA nanotechnology with 2D materials like graphene, pushing the frontiers of how we observe and control biological processes at the molecular level.
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\r\nSTUDENT SPEAKER:
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\r\nUnderstanding oxidative stress response in animals - a case study of the essential enzyme adenosylhomocysteinase, AHCY
\r\nYong-Qi Gao, Zenk Lab
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\r\nBioEngineering Talks mandatory EDBB Seminar Attendance (1st-Year PhD Students)\r\n
The function of many materials, from biological tissues to industrial polymers, depends on how their nanoscale building blocks are arranged and aligned within a macroscopic structure, which is essential to understand but difficult to resolve: established high-resolution techniques typically access only small sample volumes, limiting the ability to capture structural or biological variability across extended, heterogeneous samples.
\r\nSmall-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) imaging probes local nanostructure by raster-scanning a focused synchrotron beam across a sample. This can be extended to resolve nanostructure orientation voxel-by-voxel in three dimensions in a method called SAXS tensor tomography, which we implement in our open-source software package Mumott. In this presentation, I will show how this approach, and its continued development, can be applied across different material systems.
\r\nFor injection-molded polymer packaging, SAXS imaging has resolved the layered anisotropic nanostructure important for its mechanical properties, and, combined with industrial processing simulations, the structure formation during thermal processing. Another example is bone, where resolving structure requires both three-dimensional information and sufficient sampling to capture biological variability. Combining 2D and 3D SAXS imaging, we studied regional differences in the human femoral neck, an anatomical site relevant to hip fractures, and, at higher resolution, resolved alternating chirality between neighboring lamellae within individual osteons, a structural feature proposed on mechanical grounds over a century ago.
\r\nThese examples illustrate how tensor tomography, extended beyond X-ray scattering to wide-angle diffraction and visible-light polarimetry, provides a route to resolving hierarchical structure across a wide range of material systems.
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\r\nBio: Marianne Liebi studied food science at ETH Zurich, where she also completed her PhD in 2013, followed by postdoctoral research at the Paul Scherrer Institute and MAX IV Laboratory, Lund. In 2017, she started her own research group at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, and was appointed in 2021 as tenure-track Assistant Professor at EPFL, where she heads the Laboratory for X-ray Characterization of Materials (cam-X) within the Institute of Materials, in a joint position with the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). Her research develops advanced X-ray and optical imaging techniques, centered on small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in 2D and 3D, to resolve the hierarchical structure of materials ranging from fiber composites to pharmaceutical formulations and bone.