6–10 Jul 2026
University of the Western Cape
Africa/Johannesburg timezone
**Tours now open!** Registration is now closed - All registration payments are due before 23:39 SAST on 26 June.

Holographically shaped optical fields for manipulating complex biological specimens

8 Jul 2026, 10:10
20m
Lecture Hall DL1 (University of the Western Cape)

Lecture Hall DL1

University of the Western Cape

Oral Presentation Track C - Photonics Photonics

Speaker

Le Roi Du Plessis (Stellenbosch University)

Description

Optical tweezers have long been used as a tool for manipulating micro- and nanoscale objects, with applications in biological systems and modelling colloidal crystal structures. Recently, optical tweezers have been incorporated into microfluidic chips for isolating single cells and force measurements. In this talk, we present a single-cell monitoring platform which uses holographic optical tweezers (HOT) to manipulate multiple cells simultaneously or biological specimens with irregular shapes within a microfluidic chip. Examples include fibrinogen microclots linked to long-covid symptoms or cardio myoblast spheroids. We discuss the trap generation methodology for irregular shapes, which traditionally cannot be trapped using single-beam geometries. Finally, we outline different imaging modalities integrated with the HOT system that we use for monitoring cellular properties under changing extracellular environments. This system could be used as a drug screening platform for informing dosage protocols for individual patients.

Apply for student award at which level: PhD
Consent on use of personal information: Abstract Submission Yes, I ACCEPT

Author

Le Roi Du Plessis (Stellenbosch University)

Co-authors

Calvin Groenewald (Stellenbosch University) Gurthwin Bosman (Stellenbosch University) Pieter Neethling (Stellenbosch University)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.