Nano Optics

Focus

The newly established Nano Optics group focuses on advancing the knowledge of light-matter interactions below the diffraction limit of light as well as development of novel experimental methods that address current topics in biology, biophysics, and biochemistry. Although we employ a wide range of procedures, our investigative toolbox is mainly comprised of single-particle and single-molecule optical techniques. In particular, approaches such as light microscopy, laser spectroscopy, quantum optics, near-field optics, and plasmonics are combined with chemical and bioanalytical methods and biotechnologies to achieve a robust array of exciting projects.

Research projects

• ERC-CZ Optical imaging of single protein dynamics
• High-fidelity fast tracking of protein motion mechanisms

Complete overview of projects

Publications

1. M. Vala, M. Piliarik, Weighing single protein complexes on the go, Nature Methods 18 (2021) 1159–1160 (News & Views); doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-021-01263-8.
2. Ł. Bujak, K. Holanová, A.G. Marin, V. Henrichs, I. Barvík, M. Braun, Z. Lánský, M. Piliarik, Fast leaps between millisecond confinements govern Ase1 diffusion along microtubules, Small Methods 2021, 2100370; doi: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smtd.202100370.
3. Y. He, S. Lin, H. Robert, H. Li, P. Zhang, M. Piliarik, X.-W. Chen, Multiscale Modeling and Analysis for High-fidelity Interferometric Scattering Microscopy, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (2021) doi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/abf70d.
4. H. Robert, Ł. Bujak, K. Holanová, M. Vala, V. Henrichs, Z. Lánský, M. Piliarik, Fast photothermal spatial light modulation for quantitative phase imaging at the nanoscale, Nature Communications 12 (2021) 2921; doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23252-3.
5. M. Vala, L. Bujak, A.G. Marin, K. Holanova, V. Henrichs, M. Braun, Z. Lansky, M. Piliarik, Nanoscopic Structural Fluctuations of Disassembling Microtubules Revealed by Label-Free Super-Resolution Microscopy, Small Methods (2021) 2000985; doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.202000985.

Complete overview of publications