Kai Sandvold Beckwith
Background and activities
Kai Sandvold Beckwith started a 3-year postdoc at CEMIR in March 2016. Kai holds a MSc in Nanotechnology from NTNU, and a PhD in biophysics from NTNU, with Prof. Pawel Sikorski as supervisor. During his PhD, Kai developed new micro- and nanostructured surfaces intended for high throughput cell studies. In particular, he developed systems for surface-based transfection and cell manipulation via nanopillars and microscale cell patterning. The work involved extensive use of the NTNU NanoLab cleanroom facilities as well as advanced cell microscopy methods.
At CEMIR, Kai will utilize several complementary modern microscopy methods, such as TIRF, confocal/STED, FRET, FLIM and high throughput imaging, as well as specialized fluorescent dyes and proteins, to characterize processes such as phagocytosis, phagosome maturation and signaling, and phagosome manipulation by pathogens infecting immune cells.
Scientific, academic and artistic work
A selection of recent journal publications, artistic productions, books, including book and report excerpts. See all publications in the database
Journal publications
- (2020) Plasma membrane damage causes NLRP3 activation and pyroptosis during Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Nature Communications. vol. 11.
- (2020) Electron Beam Lithography Fabrication of SU-8 Polymer Structures for Cell Studies. Journal of microelectromechanical systems. vol. 29 (2).
- (2019) Influence of Nanopillar Arrays on Fibroblast Motility, Adhesion, and Migration Mechanisms. Small. vol. 15 (43).
- (2019) Human Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8) is an important sensor of pyogenic bacteria, and is attenuated by cell surface TLR signaling. Frontiers in Immunology. vol. 10:1209 (May).
- (2017) Toll-Like Receptor 8 Is a Major Sensor of Group B Streptococcus But Not Escherichia coli in Human Primary Monocytes and Macrophages. Frontiers in Immunology. vol. 8.
- (2015) Tunable high aspect ratio polymer nanostructures for cell interfaces. Nanoscale. vol. 7 (18).
- (2015) Dissolution of copper mineral phases in biological fluids and the controlled release of copper ions from mineralized alginate hydrogels. Biomedical Materials. vol. 10 (1).
- (2015) Seeing a mycobacterium-infected cell in nanoscale 3D: Correlative imaging by light microscopy and FIB/SEM tomography. PLOS ONE. vol. 10:e0134644 (9).
- (2013) Patterned cell arrays and patterned co-cultures on polydopamine-modified poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels. Biofabrication. vol. 5 (4).
- (2013) A Transparent Nanowire-Based Cell Impalement Device Suitable for Detailed Cell-Nanowire Interaction Studies. Small. vol. 9 (2).
Report/dissertation
- (2011) A Study of Cultured Cells on a Nanowire-based Reverse Transfection Device. 2011.