1. Home
  2. About Us
  3. MPL People
  4. Richard Taylor

Dr. Richard Taylor

  • Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Room: A.3.242
  • Telephone: +49 9131 7133352
  • E-mail

I am interested in the potential of interferometric scattering microscopy to uncover the hidden dynamics of biology at the nanoscale, in particular, in exploring what we can learn about membrane organization and cellular function. I am also excited to develop nanofluidic tools to facilitate novel investigations into single-cell biology via advanced optical microscopies.

2014

Watching individual molecules flex within lipid membranes using SERS

Richard W. Taylor, Felix Benz, Daniel O. Sigle, Richard W. Bowman, Peng Bao, Johannes S. Roth, George R. Heath, Stephen D. Evans, Jeremy J. Baumberg

Scientific Reports 4 5940 (2014) | Journal

Interrogating individual molecules within bio-membranes is key to deepening our understanding of biological processes essential for life. Using Raman spectroscopy to map molecular vibrations is ideal to non-destructively ‘fingerprint’ biomolecules for dynamic information on their molecular structure, composition and conformation. Such tag-free tracking of molecules within lipid bio-membranes can directly connect structure and function. In this paper, stable co-assembly with gold nano-components in a ‘nanoparticle-on-mirror’ geometry strongly enhances the local optical field and reduces the volume probed to a few nm3, enabling repeated measurements for many tens of minutes on the same molecules. The intense gap plasmons are assembled around model bio-membranes providing molecular identification of the diffusing lipids. Our experiments clearly evidence measurement of individual lipids flexing through telltale rapid correlated vibrational shifts and intensity fluctuations in the Raman spectrum. These track molecules that undergo bending and conformational changes within the probe volume, through their interactions with the environment. This technique allows for in situ high-speed single-molecule investigations of the molecules embedded within lipid bio-membranes. It thus offers a new way to investigate the hidden dynamics of cell membranes important to a myriad of life processes.

Gold Nanorods with Sub‐Nanometer Separation using Cucurbit[n]uril for SERS Applications

Samuel T. Jones, Richard W. Taylor, Rubén Esteban, Enass K. Abo‐Hamed, Paul H. H. Bomans, Nico A. J. M. Sommerdijk, Javier Aizpurua, Jeremy J. Baumberg, Oren A. Scherman

Small 10 4298-4303 (2014) | Journal

The capability of cucurbit[n]uril to align gold nanorods, leading to optical coupling into the infrared region, is shown. Cryo-TEM and tomographic imaging confirm the presence of aligned Au nanorods. Full electromagnetic simulations, which support the observed plasmonic modes and predict large enhancements in the inter-particle junction, are performed. This construct is then further utilized for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

Optical Response of Metallic Nanoparticle Heteroaggregates with Subnanometric Gaps

Christos Tserkezis, Richard W. Taylor, Jan Beitner, Rubén Esteban, Jeremy J. Baumberg, Javier Aizpurua

Particle & Particle Systems Characterization 31 152-160 (2014) | Journal

The optical response of metallic nanoparticle heteroaggregates with well-defined, subnanometric interparticle gaps is studied both theoretically and experimentally for clusters formed by nanoparticles of different size and/or different material (Au and Ag). The optical spectra of the aggregates can be understood in terms of excitation of chain-like plasmon modes, which are associated with short and long linear chains that constitute the cluster internally. The dependence of the optical properties of the aggregates on the size of the metallic nanoparticles, the interparticle gaps, and the dielectric environment is revealed in model electromagnetic calculations. A rigid molecular linker, cucurbit[5]uril, is used to experimentally form Au heteroaggregates of different sized particles, as well as heteroaggregates of silver and gold. It is shown that in both types of heteroaggregates, the ratio of the two different nanoparticles provides a versatile and easily controllable way to tailor the dominant long-wavelength chain mode. Experimental tracing of the optical response of such heteroaggregates in time during aggregation supports the formation of long-wavelength modes, which can be attributed to excitation of long chains inside the clusters.

I was born in the United Kingdom where I completed my graduate studies, gaining a Masters (1st, Hons) in Physics from the University of Birmingham in 2009. Thereafter I completed my doctoral studies in 2013 in the Nanophotonics group of Prof. Jeremy J. Baumberg at the University of Cambridge. The subject of my doctoral work was ‘On the sub-nm plasmonics of gold nanoparticles clusters’, which led to a patent for ‘Plasmonic junctions for surface-enhanced spectroscopy’. In 2013 I joined the group of Prof. Sandoghdar to develop interferometric scattering microscopy for application to live cells, becoming a Humboldt Postdoctoral fellow in 2015. In addition to research activities, I also enjoy aiding efforts for scientific outreach, and I also co-organised the first international workshop on interferometric scattering microscopy in 2020.

MPL Research Centers and Schools

© Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light

Data Collection

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.

Get more info about used cookies
Cookie optin by Olli machts