Research infrastructure The dual-trap C-Trap dymo 300 instrument combines optical tweezers, multichannel microfluidics, fluorescence microscopy, and label-free imaging in a single, integrated system that allows the study of biomolecular interactions and dynamics at the single-molecule level.
The C-Trap instrument allows to visualize and manipulate single molecules in real time.
Image Mattias Pettersson
The C-Trap Facility Manager Rubén Casanova Sáez is loading a sample into the microfluidics unit of the C-trap instrument.
Image Mattias Pettersson
A microfluidics unit allows to control the environment around the visualised molecules and to rapidly introduce new substances.
Image Mattias Pettersson
Trapping lasers and confocal microscopy opperate inside a flow cell, a tiny chamber, which makes it possible to manipulate and image single molecules in real time.
Image Mattias PetterssonThe C-Trap enables to manipulate and visualize biomolecules like DNA, RNA, and proteins in real time and under physiologically relevant conditions, and to measure the correlated forces at the molecular scale.
Users receive support in planning and data collection of single-molecule visualization and correlated force detection experiments studying for example DNA/RNA-protein interactions, conformational changes in biomolecules or biomechanical properties of molecules and cell membranes/walls. Running costs are covered by user fees.
The facility is hosted by Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) and manged by a facility manager with support from a steering group with representatives from different departments and faculties. It was funded by Kempestiftelserna, the Faculty of Science and Technology, the Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Plant Physiology that is part of Umeå Plant Science Centre. The Facility is also part of the Chemical Biological Centrum.
The C-Trap facility is primarily open to users from Umeå University and SLU. If you are an external user interested in the facility, please contact the manager Rubén Casanova-Sáez.
Read more on the facility's official page on the website of UPSC
Magnus Andersson, Professor, Department of Physics
Marta Bally, Docent, Department of Clinical Microbiology
Stefan Björklund, Professor, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics
Rubén Casanova Sáez, C-Trap Manager, Staff Scientist, Department of Plant Physiology
Åsa Strand, Chair, Professor, Department of Plant Physiology
Stéphane Verger, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Physiology
