Using Optical Tweezers to Manipulate Cells

Monish Shah

Graduate Student, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

25 February 1999

Optical tweezers are a very useful tool for cell manipulation.   They are non-invasive, do not damage cells, and are quite easy to use.  This talk will focus on the background of optical tweezers, the theory of operation of the optical tweezers, and previous experiments using optical tweezers.  In addition, Monish will talk about the optical tweezer set up in the Microscopy Suite, and how he is using tweezers in his research.