Magnus Andersson

Profile

Affiliate Associate Professor.

Develops optical tools to probe biology at the border of physics and chemistry.

Magnus is a physicist working at the border of physics, chemistry, and biology. He is the head of the Biophysics and Biophotonics group located at the Department of Physics at Umeå University. For 20 years, he has developed optical tweezers tools that are used to study biophysical and physicochemical properties of cells, bacteria, and spores on the single-cell level. Using in-house designed optical tweezers, the group is experts on force measurements and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Of special interest is single molecule/organelle force measurements that provide information on how bacteria can attach to surfaces and vibration spectroscopy to measure the chemical content of spores.

Magnus’s research also aims to develop image-processing algorithms and software development for tracking organisms. And, to confine organisms, the group develop microfluidic systems using 3D-printing technology.

Current Projects

How do interconnected networks of cells emerge during wood formation?

Collaborators – Stephane Verger; Funding: Kempestiftelserna
Biophysical and Physicochemical Fingerprinting of Single Bacterial Spores

Collaborators – Swedish Defense Research Establishment (FOI); Funding: Vetenskapsrådet
The glymphatic pathway of the brain – A factor in dementia?

Collaborator – Anders Eklund, Anders Wåhlin, Jan Malm, Katrine Riklund, Funding: Stiftelsen för strategisk forskning (SSF)
Identification of key adhesion mechanisms in pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria – Characterization and analysis of bacterial adhesion

Collaborators – Esther Bullitt (Boston University School of Medicine), Joseph Baker (The College of New Jersey), Anton Zavialov (University of Turku), Bernt Eric Uhlin (UmU)

The Latest Posts

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2024 Lunch Pitches

2024 Lunch Pitches

Sign up to give a Lunch Pitch in 2024 IceLab once again invites researchers to share their ideas and engage in discussion with a multidisciplinary audience [...]

For the love of fun in science

For the love of fun in science

For the love of fun in science IceLab's culture creates space for collaboration in a number of ways, including by embracing fun. IceLab multidisciplinary postdoctoral fellow Josephine Solowiej-Wedderburn is one of [...]

Lessons from SFI CSSS

Lessons from SFI CSSS

Lessons from the 2023 SFI Complex Systems Summer School Four weeks filled with interesting lectures, exciting discussions and hikes in the beautiful surroundings - this was IceLab PhD student Hanna Isaksson’s [...]

Center for modeling adaptive mechanisms in living systems under stress

Center for modeling adaptive mechanisms in living systems under stress

FUNDING NEWS: Center for modeling adaptive mechanisms in living systems under stress at IceLab Martin Rosvall, together with Åke Brännström, Sebastian Diehl, Maria Fällman and Åsa Strand of IceLab have been [...]

Science’s communication problem – and a solution

Science’s communication problem – and a solution

Science's communication problem - and a solution! June 8, 2023 Watch Lunch Pitch Video Pitch 1: Atin Sharma: Science has a communication problem. Let’s do [...]

Secondary metabolite discovery and a plant wall biodesign opportunity

Secondary metabolite discovery and a plant wall biodesign opportunity

Secondary metabolite discovery and a plant wall biodesign opportunity May 25, 2023 Watch Lunch Pitch Video Pitch 1: Laura Carroll: Machine learning approaches for microbial [...]