Who we are

We are a group of scientists at the Cavendish Lab, University of Cambridge, UK. Our research is focused on understanding transport processes through membranes.

The physics of ions, macromolecules and particles in confined geometries at the single molecule/-particle level is of particular interest. We exert maximum control over all parameters in our experiments using several techniques: DNA (origami) self-assembly, optical trapping, particle tracking, fluorescence microscopy, electrophysiology, or micro-/nanofluidics, often in combination.

Our interdisciplinary team combines researchers with expertise in physics, engineering, physical chemistry, biochemistry/biology, and micro- and nanofabrication.

In case you are interested in working with us, please get in touch with Ulrich by email: ufk20 (at) cam.ac.uk.

We gratefully acknowledge funding of our work from various sources including:

Logo ERC Logo EPSRC Logo BBSRC
Logo NanoDTC Logo Noether Logo ONT

News

8/10/2018 Ran Tivony, Marcus Fletcher, Stuart Knowles and Filip Boskovic join the lab. Welcome.

Ran is a Blavatnik fellow and will investigate membrane transport using microfluidic approaches.

Marcus is a PhD student who will work on physics of lipid membrane transport and AMPs in a collaboration with NPL.

Stuart is a PhD student who will work on the physics of transport through channels.
Filip joins as MPhil student working on protein sensing using glass nanopores and DNA nanotechnology.

21/09/2018 New Part III projects! Check out the selection of our exciting Part III projects for the academic year starting October 2018. If you are interested please get in touch with Ulrich (ufk20 (at) cam.ac.uk).

21/06/2018 Just published in Nature Comm.: An artificial structure made from DNA flips lipids at record rates.


Alex published his work on an artificial enzyme that flips lipids in biological membranes. For more details on our journey from idea to the paper check out Alex' blog post. Congrats Alex and a big thank you goes to everybody in the Aksimentiev Group at Urbana-Champaign for the great collaboration!