Single-molecule Biophysics and Fluorescence Spectroscopy Lab

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Research

Most of our knowledge in Biology, Chemistry and Physics is derived from ensembles of molecules with the inherent assumption that under identical conditions molecules of identical composition behave more or less the same way. However, recent findings suggest a certain degree of molecular individualism so that molecules of the same species may follow quite different paths during transition from one state to another. Thus, single-molecule techniques provide novel insights into how molecules and systems behave, having the advantage that spatial and temporal averaging is avoided, temporal synchronisation is not necessary and novel phenomena, which otherwise are averaged and remain hidden in ensembles, may be discovered. Our aim is to monitor, in real-time, the behaviour of individual biological molecules and complexes, in vitro and in live cells. By combining the dynamic information obtained at the single-molecule or single-complex level with structural and biochemical analyses, we hope to create "molecular movies" of biological processes and from them obtain a deeper understanding of these processes. Although potentially any biological molecule is a target for single-molecule studies, currently we focus our interest in areas outlined in the scheme below. To learn more a particular area click the table links.