With this goal in mind, we propose to develop a setup for programmable patterned evanescent field illumination, in order to directly activate the basal membrane of a cell adhering on a substrate, rather than the standard cytosolic (i.e. bulk) activation. This implies two conditions : i) the laser beam incident on the coverslip/aqueous medium must have an incidence angle above the critical angle to generate a longitudinally evanescent field ; ii) its angular distribution should be tailored to obtain the desired transverse illumination pattern. Since these two conditions must fulfill the constraint of diffraction law, there is a compromise between penetration depth and spatial resolution. To control the incident light field, a wavefront shaping approach will be performed using a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD).
The project entails both simulations, to optimize the pattern to apply on the DMD for a desired illumination pattern, and developing an optical bench to test this approach and define the best optical configuration compatible with a microscope environment.
This internship requires a background in optics/physics. It will take place at the Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Physics (LIPhy), in close collaboration with biologists of the Institute for Advanced Biosciences.
We are especially interested by applicants who would be willing to continue this internship with a PhD, which has been recently funded by the ANR, in collaboration with our colleagues from two biology institutes in Grenoble and Rennes.
Contact :
Irène Wang – tél. 04 76 51 47 29 – irene.wang@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr
Antoine Delon – tél. 04 76 63 58 01– antoine.delon@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr