| | Event Detail
| Event Type: | Colloquium - Physics Department - Refreshments served at 3:40
|
| Title: | Probing the Machinery of Life with Single-Molecule Fluorescence, Microfluidic Devices, and Nanoscale Optical Encoders |
| Speaker/Affiliation: | Professor Everett Lipman, UCSB Physics |
| Description: | Life arises from the interactions of self-assembling molecular machines
typically having sizes between 1 and 20 nm. Although the resolution limit
of traditional optical microscopy is on the order of 100 nm, near-field
energy transfer between fluorescent dyes enables measurement of distances
between 1 and 10 nm using visible light. Since 1996, this phenomenon, known
as Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET), has been used to examine
individual biomolecules. After an introduction to the physics of FRET and
its measurement, I will describe how we use this technique in combination
with new macroscopic, microscopic, and nanoscale instrumentation to study
the self-assembly and function of protein molecules. Rapid diffusive mixing
in microfluidic devices has allowed us to monitor protein folding with
single-molecule resolution, on time scales more than ten times faster than
was possible five years ago. Optical encoders, commonly used in such
devices as printers, telescopes, and disk drives, enable precise
measurement by translating motion into a periodic signal. We have
synthesized a nanoscale optical encoder, and use it to track a helicase
molecule, which separates two DNA strands prior to replication. I will also
briefly discuss theory we have developed to improve the accuracy of
single-molecule FRET, and future experiments.
|
| Date: | Tue, November 03, 2009 |
| Time: | 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm |
| Location: | Broida 1640
|
| Contact for more information: | tara@physics.ucsb.edu |
| This entry was last modified by: | tara on 2009-10-19 12:31:58-07 |
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