Tom Mickleburgh

Project: New technologies for the quantification of protein copy number and protein-protein interactions in single plant cells

Until recently there have been no technology platforms capable of counting the number of proteins in single cells. In response to this technology vacuum, we developed the microfluidic antibody capture chip (MAC Chips) technology, a generic platform capable of undertaking the analysis of protein copy number from single cells. This system is the only platform in the world able to make such measurements and combines cutting edge microfluidics with optical trapping and single molecule counting.

This project builds upon the breakthrough MAC technology focusing upon the analysis of protein copy number and will monitor the response of protein pathways in plant cells upon addition of agrochemicals to gain insight into their mode of action in crops.