About Us

Bio-AFM and cellular mechanics (BACM) Lab

In our research group, we develop novel protocols for high-resolution imaging, and nanomechanical property characterization of hard substrates (for example, graphene) as well as soft substrates such as biomolecules, proteins, DNA, RNA, and live plant and animal cells using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). We study cellular structures and perform high-resolution imaging, force mapping simultaneously using our (Bio-AFM + fluorescence microscope) combined research instrument/ platform. We developed a generalized biophysical method for determining the single molecule interaction forces and binding kinetics for several relevant ligand receptor interactions or protein-protein interactions by isolating their interactions on live cells using AFM. We also work on finding a better drug delivery vehicle by comparing the most probable rupture force and binding probability for targeting overexpressed receptors/tissue. The nature of our research is inherently multi-disciplinary involving physics, chemistry, biology, basic concepts of biomedical engineering. We are also incorporating machine learning approaches to make AFM data analytics faster. Prediction of 3D structures of protein complexes using a hybrid method (combining AFM based 2.5D high-resolution imaging and geometry aware machine learning approaches) is one of our newest directions.

Learn More!

• PI, Anwesha Sarkar was invited to present in 'Biomechanics seminar series in UCSD MAE department (November 2023)!

https://mae.ucsd.edu/seminar/2023/characterization-nanomechanical-properties-and-single-molecule-interaction-forces-live

• PI, Anwesha Sarkar became Harpole-Pentair Assistant Professor (August 2023)!

• TrAC Seed Grant Proposal “Computational force spectroscopy for prediction of protein-protein interactions” submitted by PI A. Sarkar with co-PIs Ratul Chowdhury and Adarsh Krishnamurthy has been selected for funding.  https://trac-ai.iastate.edu/ 

• PI A. Sarkar got invited for a seminar in Physics Department at Creighton University, Nebraska. https://www.creighton.edu/arts-sciences/faculty/physics-ms 

• Congrats to our graduate Student, Nabila Masud on acceptance of her abstract in IBE conference, April 2023 https://www.ibe.org/meetings/2023-annual-conference

• I am happy to share the following news: OVPR welcomes 26 campus research leaders to 2022-23 cohort. Link!

• Women in Cyclone Engineering: Anwesha Sarkar. Link!

Opportunities

• Highly motivated students (possibly with prior experience with any experimental work) are encouraged to email anweshas@iastate.edu to apply for undergraduate research or graduate research.