Soft Materials Lab
Renata Garcés is a Research Scientist at Duke University’s Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (SMIF), where she manages the Soft Materials Laboratory. She joined SMIF in October 2023. Renata holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Montpellier (France) and a degree in Physical Engineering from the University of Santiago, Chile.
At SMIF, she supports researchers across physics, engineering, and the life sciences, providing training and guidance in microscopy and surface characterization techniques while overseeing the operation of the Soft Materials Laboratory.
Her research focuses on the micromechanics of bacterial cells. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and complementary microscopy methods, she investigates how bacterial cells and their envelopes respond to mechanical stresses and biochemical treatments, aiming to understand how physical and chemical perturbations influence bacterial physiology and envelope integrity at the single-cell level.
Contact Information
- Office Location: 1589 Fitzpatrick CIEMAS
- Email Address: renata.garces@duke.edu