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This incredible image shows an area of live stem cell that’s just 90 microns X 90 microns in size –a micron (or micrometre) is one millionth of a meter. That’s about the diameter of an average human hair.

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Some people have an eye for detail.

And some scientists see all the way down to the last atom: Suzi Jarvis is one of those scientists.

As Professor of Biophysics at UCD’s Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, Jarvis uses advanced atomic force microscopes to reveal the world that exists on the nano-scale –where a human hair (at 90 microns, or 90 millionths of a metre) looks like a tree trunk and single strands of DNA (at 2 nanometers, or 2 billionths of a metre) seem like huge snakes sliding across the landscape.

Atomic force microscopes (AFMs) work by scanning the surface of what you want to see with a tiny tip –a bit like the way the needle on a record player scans the surface of the record.

By measuring the force exterted on a tiny cantilever as the specimen is scanned, an incredibly accurate computer image of the specimen can be generated.

And they can produce stunning results –allowing scientists to observe single atoms and answer a wide range of questions in biology, materials science and other disciplines. 

AFMs are our window into this nanoscale world, which promises everything from Spiderman suits to nanoscale medical robots and virus tracking.

Jarvis’ journey to the nanoworld has taken her across the globe, from England to Japan and to Ireland, where she heads UCD’s Nanoscale Function Group.

More on that journey and why Jarvis is such a strong believer in multidisciplinary research, after the turn.

Jarvis graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA in Physics and a Kodak sponsored DPhil in Materials. She then moved to Tsukuba, Japan, to study at the Joint Research Center for Atom Technology (JRCAT), before moving on to a staff position at JRCAT’s Nanotechnology Research Institute.  

During her time in Japan, Jarvis worked on some of the best AFMs in the world, but discovered that being well-resourced isn’t everything a good scientist needs.

“The Japanese are very good at developing technology and are very, very well-resourced, but there’s a bit of a problem for them actually applying it –especially across disciplines,” says Jarvis.

As a consequence, Jarvis explains, the Japanese have developed some of the world’s best high-tech instruments but haven’t really seized on the opportunity to use AFMs to answer important questions in other disciplines.

“Ground-breaking output from their advanced technology is missing. That’s because they haven’t got biologists really interested in instrumentation. If we don’t have really interesting biological questions to answer we’re just tool-makers and technicians. You’ve got to have a specific question that you want to answer,” says Jarvis. 

So, in 2002, when the opportunity to use her expertise in AFMs to answer important biological questions came up, Jarvis jumped at the chance and moved to Ireland.

“I wanted something where I could continue the successful research that I had been doing in Japan,” says Jarvis. “So, I was encouraged to look at Ireland as a possibility because exciting things were happening here. There was a real buzz about the place here because something new and exciting was about to happen. So, that was very appealing.”

After a stint in Trinity College, Jarvis moved to UCD, where she now she works with a multidisciplinary team of scientists –from zoologists to botanists and electrical engineers– helping them use AFMs to conduct important research at the nanoscale.

“I am a physicist by background… and yet here I am, surrounded by biologists. This was very important for the development of my research. Our strength is in developing tools explore the nanoscale, but we need to be surrounded by biologists with biological problems to really make the most of what we’re doing,” says Jarvis.

One of Jarvis’ major goals for her team of scientists is to make a conceptual advance in understanding the role of water in biological function. Another is to study misfolded proteins and their possible role in neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and BSE.

The ability to draw on the capabilities of scientists from different disciplines is crucial to her work, says Jarvis.

“A biologist’s approach might be to focus on one particular organism or one particular protein. What we’re trying to do is draw everything together by looking at these interactions on the nanoscale. If we can work together to understand the fundamental interactions underpinning all these phenomena then we have an approach that can have an influence in a wide range of areas,” says Jarvis.

Such multi-disciplinary work might lead to the development of new adhesives that don’t have volatile organic components and the production of water-based car lubricants.

“These are apparently quite diverse areas, but to us it all comes under the same thing, which is trying to understand structure and function on the nanoscale,” says Jarvis.

Stay tuned over the coming days to find out more about UCD’s Nanoscale Function Group. You’ll also get a sneak peek at some of the team’s best AFM images, and read about some of the work that students are doing in Jarvis’ lab every day.