Dr Fouzia Bano

Profile

I did my PhD in Statistical and Biological Physics in the group of Prof. Giacinto Scoles and Dr. Loredana Casalis from SISSA, Italy in 2009 on developing DNA and proteins nano-arrays based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) nanolithography method. I then joined lab of Prof. Anne-Sophie Duwez at University of Liege, Belgium (2010-2013) as a postdoctoral fellow to learn and implement AFM single molecule force spectroscopy for quantifying DNA-gold interactions at the single nucleobases level. From 2013 to 2016, I worked in Dr. Ralf Richter lab (Richter lab) at CIC biomaGUNE, Spain as a post-doctoral researcher on designing AFM single molecule probe to study the dynamics of polysaccharide (such as Hyaluronan) - protein complexes at the single molecule level and also studying molecular interactions using optical and acoustic methods. Since October 2016, I continued working in Richter lab as a research fellow at the University of Leeds and helped developing binding assays based on both bio-affinity and covalent interactions. 

Research interests

My main interests are label free detection of biomolecular interactions both at many and single molecule levels (Nanoletters, 2009; Scientific report 2016 and Biophysical journal, 2018) and high resolution imaging, and nanomechanics of biological systems (Nanoscale, 2018).

Qualifications

• PhD, Statistical and Biological Physics
• Diploma, Condensed Matter Physics
• MSc, Physics

Professional memberships

• Italian Biophysics Society
• American Chemical Society (2012-13)