Welcome to Physical Virology
Our work
Our lab is especialized in extracting biochemical information of biological ensembles by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). This powerful technique allows a real-time characterization of the sample, from tiny proteins to huge cells. The mechanism is as simple and elegant as a gramophone. In a gramophone, a needle detects the rugosity (holes) of the vynil, moving down and creating an electric current that transforms into music.
In AFM,current cantilever with a sharp tip, as sharp as few nanometers in diameter, moves up and down towards a sample and this movement is registered and corrected by a feedback system. The movement is detected by a laser beam that is reflected from the cantilever to a detector, So, when the tip encounters a surface, it bends, changing the laser proyection on the photodiode. All these translates into topographical and physical data, informing about the size, stiffness and resilience of the particle.
One advantage of the AFM microscopy is the single particle characterization. Bulk study of a virus or protein kinetics provides a partialized and biased knowledge, while single molecule can provide real insights about the variability and no homogeneity of the sample.
Besides this advantages, we have built up an AFM microscope coupled with fluorescence and a light microscope, which makes more versatile the measurements, especially to study cell dynamics, viral assembly and disassembly or DNA release.
We work mainly with virus (norovirus, reovirus, adenovirus, rotavirus, archaeal virus, picornavirus and more) but we have also worked with protein cages, such as chaperones or vault particles, and cells.