Bret Flanders

Bret Flanders Bret Flanders
Associate Professor
Address: 310 Cardwell Hall
Phone: (785) 532-1614
E-mail: bret.flanders@phys.ksu.edu
Group Webpage
Ph.D. University of Chicago, 1999
B.S. University of California, San Diego, 1993
 

Research Area

Soft Matter Nanotechnology and Biological Physics

The Flanders group fabricates nano-electronic devices for measuring electro-mechanical properties at selected sites on living cells.  The directed electrochemical nanowire assembly (DENA) technique allows us to grow both crystalline metallic and amorphous polymeric nanowires at specific locations and along user-chosen growth paths on micro-electrode arrays.   Nature employs dendritic solidification to grow precisely structured crystals (e.g. snowflakes). DENA harnesses this process to fabricate near single crystalline metallic (Co, Ni, Pd, Pt, Au, Ag, In, or Pb) nanowires.  Lacking crystallinity, polymeric (polypyrrole and polythiophene) wires cannot grow via dendritic solidification.  DENA creates an effective channel through which the wire grows.  The channel is defined by the applied electric field in the solution-filled electrode gaps on the array, so the user controls the wire-growth path by controlling the electric field.  After culturing cells onto the electrode arrays, we use DENA to grow wires up to selected cells.  Non-invasive contact between the wire-tips and the cells is accomplished by inducing the cells to attach themselves to the wires rather than the user forcing the electrode into contact with the cells.  Current projects focus on measuring the force exerted at single focal adhesion points by migrating Dictyostelium cells. We will extend this work to migratory epithelial cells to elucidate wound healing mechanisms.  We have an ongoing interest in learning how the basic dendritic solidification parameters (crystalline anisotropy, surface tension, applied voltage and salt concentration) can be chosen and controlled to produce new types of synthetic nanowires, particularly biological materials like actin filaments.

Voltage induced cell-electrode contact.wmv

Metallic wire-growth.wmv

Polymeric wire-growth.mpg


Research Support

Recent Selected Publications