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Abstract:

Cell–substrate distance is an essential parameter for applications ranging from drug development and implant design to the fundamental biology of cell–surface interactions. Surface plasmon resonance microscopy (SPRM) enables nanometre-precise, label-free and non-invasive measurements of these distances. This presentation will cover amplitude-scanning SPRM and outline key steps in automated data analysis, followed by a method validation through sphere–substrate distance measurements. The characterisation of SPRM sensor layer thicknesses using complementary X-ray reflectometry (XRR) is compared to intrinsic SPRM characterisations. Finally, a dataset of 68 SPRM measurements of HEK293 cell–substrate distances on differently coated SiO2 substrates is presented, including a comparison with published TEM values.

Biography:

Justus Nándor Bednár studied physics at RWTH Aachen University, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in 2018 and his Master of Science degree in 2020. During his master's degree, he investigated membrane transfer dynamics using QCM-D at the Institute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-3) at Forschungszentrum Jülich. From January 2021, he conducted his doctoral research at IBI-3 on surface plasmon resonance microscopy for the characterisation of cell–substrate distances. He was awarded the Doctor of Natural Sciences degree by RWTH Aachen University in May 2025. He is currently continuing this research as a postdoctoral researcher at the same institute, with a focus on advancing SPRM methodology and its applications in cell–substrate interaction studies.