PhD Project by Tayyaba Malik

Project Title: Nanochannel Liquid cells for in situ Biochemical Phase Change Studies
Group: Molecular Windows
Supervisor: Kristian Speranza Mølhave

Project Description
This project will provide in depth knowledge of the fundamental processes of coacervation and dissolution, where dissolved species of biomolecules or soft matter separate into distinct phases upon a change on solution composition in a liquid-liquid phase separation process (LLPS)[1]. The aim of the PhD project is to develop an optimized nanochannel LPTEM system based on the existing prototype at DTU Nanolab developed by Mølhave and Yesibolati, that can be used for study of biochemical phase change processes.

It involves the process of refinement and fabrication of optimized nanochannel chips with the ability to capture high quality images with nanoscale resolution while at the same time providing control to perform chemical experiments by flow of reagents to a controlled mixing process, and with control of temperature. Establishing such a system will allow nanoscale studies of chemical and biochemical processes that can facilitate advances in many fields of applications. Hence, this PhD project is the interface of Nanotechnology, Physics, Biochemistry and Life Science.
 
[1] Le Ferrand, H., Duchamp, M., Gabryelczyk, B., Cai, H., & Miserez, A. (2019). Time-resolved observations of liquid–liquid phase separation at the nanoscale using in situ liquid transmission electron microscopy. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141(17), 7202-7210.
[2] Yesibolati, M. N., Laganà, S., Sun, H., Beleggia, M., Kathmann, S. M., Kasama, T., & Mølhave, K. (2020). Mean Inner
Potential of Liquid Water. Physical Review Letters, 124(6), 065502.