Aleksandra Radenovic (born in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

and Croatian

biophysicist Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study Biology, biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from Molecule, molecular to organismic ...

. Her research focuses on the development of experimental tools to study single-molecule biophysics. She is a professor of

biological engineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number o ...

at the

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(EPFL) and head of the Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology.

Career

Radenovic studied

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

at the University of Zagreb, where she wrote her Master thesis on

Raman spectroscopy Raman spectroscopy () (named after Indian physicist C. V. Raman) is a spectroscopic technique typically used to determine vibrational modes of molecules, although rotational and other low-frequency modes of systems may also be observed. Raman sp ...

of beta-carotene. She then joined Giovanni Dietler's Laboratory of Physics of Living Matter, then located at

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; french: links=no, Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzer ...

, and in 2003, she graduated with a PhD on cryo

atomic force microscopy Atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning force microscopy (SFM) is a very-high-resolution type of scanning probe microscopy (SPM), with demonstrated resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the op ...

. For postdoctoral studies she went to work at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

with Jan Liphardt. In 2008, she became an assistant professor at EPFL where she established the Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology. In 2015, she was promoted as an associate professor.

Research

Radenovic's area of research is the development of experimental techniques for the study of

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...

and

cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

making use of biosensors and optical imaging. In particular, she is interested in single-molecule biophysics. Her research follows three main trajectories. First, she employs nanopores applied on suspended 2D material membranes, standard silicon-nitride membranes, and in glass nanocapillaries to study and manipulate single molecules. Then, Radenovic studies the function of single molecules, especially

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

and

nucleic acid Nucleic acids are biopolymers, macromolecules, essential to all known forms of life. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main cl ...

interactions, via

optical tweezers Optical tweezers (originally called single-beam gradient force trap) are scientific instruments that use a highly focused laser beam to hold and move microscopic and sub-microscopic objects like atoms, nanoparticles and droplets, in a manner simila ...

, optical wrench system, anti-Brownian electrokinetic trap, and a combination of nanopores or nanocapillaries with optical tweezers. Finally, based on single molecule localization microscopy, she designs super-resolution optical microscopes to extract quantitative information on single molecules.

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* Website of th
Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology
* * Citation data fro
Researcher ID
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radenovic, Aleksandra 21st-century Swiss scientists 21st-century Croatian scientists Croatian emigrants to Switzerland Swiss women engineers 21st-century women engineers Women bioengineers University of Zagreb alumni University of Lausanne alumni Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne 1975 births Living people Swiss biophysicists Croatian physicists Women biophysicists