Department of Physics
Condensed Matter Seminar

Single molecule measurement techniques have revolutionized biological inquiries by providing previously unobtainable data on elementary molecular processes. However, most studies thus far have been limited to single isolated molecules even though these molecules do not function in isolation in the cell. To emulate the cellular conditions better, more complex systems with multiple components need to be looked at. This requires major improvements in measurement and analysis techniques which is a subject of this talk. I will present our attempts to develop ‘extreme in vitro single molecule techniques’ in order to maximize information content in single molecule analysis. The following topics will be discussed. (1) Unbiased analysis of RecA filament dynamics using Hidden Markov modeling (2) Three-color FRET analysis of protein diffusion on single stranded DNA (3) Fluorescence-force spectroscopic mapping of 2D reaction landscape of the Holliday junction