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Marco Wenger

Marco Wenger profile photo
  • Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
  • AFM based nanoindentation and nanodissection
  • Mechanical and structural properties of fibrillar collagen
  • Development of novel AFM tools for in situ mechanical testing

Contact details:
Office:
Tel: +44 (0)207 679 9945
Ext: 39945
Fax: +44 (0)207 679 0595
Email: marco.wengerucl.ac.uk

Research interests

Marco’s research interest lies in the mechanical and structural properties of fibrillar collagen. Although collagen is the most abundant protein in mammals and has been intensively studied for decades there is still a lack of a convincing and comprehensive structural model for the fibrils (diameter approx. 50-200nm). Information about the mechanical properties of collagen is not only essential to explain the macroscopic biophysics of different tissues but also contributes to our understanding of the microscopic structure of collagen fibrils themselves.

Marco is using AFM-nanoindentation for probing the elasticity of individual collagen fibrils under both physiological conditions and in the dehydrated state. To gain further insight into the internal structure of a fibril he has developed a novel nanoindentation based scraping technique that can expose the fibril core by dislocating parts of the fibril shell. He also uses nanoscale tensile test techniques and fracturing experiments to reveal more about the mechanical and structural properties of collagen fibrils.

Recent publications

  • Elasticity and structural investigation of collagen fibrils by means of AFM‑nanoindentation. [PDF Link]
  • AFM based adhesion measurements on drug microparticles. [PDF Link]
  • Nanoscale scraping and dissection of collagen fibrils. [PDF Link]

Biography

  • Present: Ph.D. student at the London Centre for Nanotechnology and the Centre for Nanomedicine, University College London.
  • 2004: M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Developed a technique that combines total internal reflection fluorescent microscopy with structured illumination.
  • 2001: B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering, University of Applied Sciences of Central Switzerland (FHZ). Investigated novel downsizing concepts of combustion engines through turbo charging that potentially reduce fuel consumption.

Research
Figure 1: Stiffness probing of an individual rat tail (type I) collagen fibril. (a) 64 by 64 indentation curves are taken over the fibril lying on a stiff substrate. (b) A stiffness map is created where the greyscale value stands for the unloading slope (dark = high stiffness = steep slope; bright = low stiffness = shallow slope). The elasticity, in form of the Young’s modulus, of rat tail (type I) collagen was found to be in the range from 5 GPa to 11.5 GPa when measured in air and between 2 MPa to 5 MPa when measured in liquid, both at room temperature.

 

Figure 2: Dissection of a collagen fibril revealing its inner structure. (Rat tail collagen on mica substrate. AFM phase image. Dissected and images in air and at room temperature).