Single Molecule Imaging

Diseases are often caused by subtle changes at the molecular level. In many cases, detection of these changes is reliant on bulk measurements which only measure ensemble averages. However, proteins and other molecules are often mixtures of unaltered and altered subpopulations. Advances in fluorescence microscopy have enabled the detection of individual molecules and the characterization of their interactions with other molecules, biological structures, and synthetic surfaces.

Protein dynamics: physical chemistry for biocompatibility

Our recent work [1,2] examined how individual proteins, including fibrinogen and albumin, interact with glass surfaces and discovered that adsorption and desorption are multistep processes (Figure 1). An improved understanding of the interactions of proteins with surfaces can help to improve the biocompatibility of glass-based biomaterials, protein purification, and formulation of pharmaceutical nanoparticles.

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Biomedical Engineering