Insights into the complexities of biological systems have the potential to cure diseases, fight bioterrorism, and lead to new materials designed to mimic natural biological phenomena. Traditional methods of bulk measurement used in biology and biochemistry cannot reveal the many of the details of the dynamics inherent in biological systems–critical information for understanding how biological systems efficiently regulate functions and survival ability. The ability to monitor the characteristics of a biological system on a single molecule basis illuminates many of these hidden properties.

Researchers in the CRF's Advanced Optical Imaging of Bio-molecular Dynamics group have developed novel imaging capabilities sensitive enough for the study of the intricate dynamics of single bio-molecules. Single molecule optical detection allows the direct probe of distributions of time evolution of different observables that exist in complex environments. Consequently, experiments at the single bio-molecule level can reveal information on:

• Enzyme dynamics
• Protein folding
• Protein-protein interactions in real time

The group's research interests focus on studies of photochemical signal transduction of biological systems, response regulation at the single molecule level, and development of novel tagging techniques for the monitoring of biological activity.