Dr Michael Higgins

Qualifications:

B.Sc. (Hons) Biology - University of Melbourne, Australia
PhD Biology & Chemistry – University of Melbourne, Australia

Research Interests:

Dr Michael Higgins completed his PhD in the field of marine and freshwater microalgae at the University of Melbourne, Australia. This work involved the application of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to determine the nanoscale adhesive and mechanical properties of living cells with the aim of developing new approaches for the design of antifouling, “non-stick” surfaces.

In 2002, Dr Higgins moved onto a Research Fellow position in the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanodevices and Nanostructures (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and in 2006 was appointed to Senior Research Fellow at the same institution. In 2007, he spent a period at the Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research at University College Dublin, Ireland, before returning to Australia to commence his current position as Senior Research Fellow at the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI), University of Wollongong.

Dr Higgins’s main interest and research has focused on the application of AFM to study the nanomechanical properties of biological systems, including living cells, model lipid membranes, single ligand-receptor interactions, individual protein unfolding, fundamental surface-force interactions, as well as being involved in AFM instrument development. He now has over 10 years experience with AFM in the field of Biophysics.

Current Research Interests:

• Cell adhesion and molecular interactions with conducting biomaterials for bionic applications
• Mechanical and electrical nanostimulation of single cells (e.g. sensory and muscle cells) using nanoscale AFM probes
• Nanomechanics of single living cells
• Adverse nanomechanical property modifications of cells in disease
• Nanomechanical properties of natural adhesives for biomaterial design.
• Development of Hybrid AFM systems (e.g. combined fluorescence and atomic force microscopy)

Memberships:

Biophysical Society (BS)
American Chemical Society (ACS)

5 Key Publications:

1. M. J. Higgins, J. E. Sader, P. Mulvaney and R. Wetherbee (2003). Probing the Surface of Living Diatom Cells with Atomic Force Microscopy: The Nanostructure and Nanomechanical Properties of the Mucilage Layer. Journal of Phycology 39 (4): 527-540.
2. T. Uchihashi, M. J. Higgins, S. Yasuda, S. P. Jarvis, S. Akita, Y. Nakayama, and J. E. Sader. (2004). Quantitative force measurements in liquid using frequency modulation atomic force microscopy. Applied Physics Letters 85:3575-3577.
3. M. J. Higgins, C. K. Riener, T. Uchihashi, J. E. Sader, R. McKendry and S. P. Jarvis. (2005). Frequency modulation atomic force microscopy: a dynamic measurement technique for biological systems. Nanotechnology 16:85-89.
4. M.J. Higgins, M. Polcik, T. Fukuma, J.E. Sader, N. Yoshikazu and S.P. Jarvis (2006). Structured Water Layers Adjacent to Biological Membranes. Biophysical Journal 91:2532-2542
5. T. Fukuma, M. J. Higgins and S. P. Jarvis (2007). Direct Imaging of Individual Intrinsic Hydration Layers on Lipid Bilayers at Ångstrom Resolution. Biophysical Journal 92: 3603-3609

For further information on any of the above, including honours and post-graduate study, please contact Dr Michael Higgins on any of the following:

email: mhiggins@uow.edu.au
phone: +61 (02) 4221 4872
office: 41A.175

Dr Michael Higgins

Figure 1. AFM 3-D height image of a living PC12 cell in growth media.

Figure 2. AFM sub-nanometer resolution image of lipid membrane in buffer showing hexagonally packed individual phospholipid headgroups. 10 nm x 10 nm scan.

Figure 3. SEM image of single microalgae cell adhering to a substratum. Scale bar, 15 µm. Inset: AFM force measurement revealing the sawtooth mechanical response of the cell adhesive polymer under an applied tensile load.