High Resolution Folding/Binding Kinetics of Single Protein Molecules
In the process of adopting a functional structure, proteins must fold from a highly disordered polymer to a discrete and unique 3D shape. The number of potential conformations in the unfolded state is much larger when compared to that of the folded state. Eukaryotic proteins often display remarkably high flexibility. Some proteins are even completely unfolded until they bind their ligand and obtain a well-defined 3D structure. The aim of our research is to define a new nanoanalytical technology which will enable the efficient detection of conformational changes with microsecond resolution in order to answer a fundamental question about intrinsically unstructured proteins, namely, what comes first, folding or unfolding? In addition, we are developing smart solid-state nanopore and nanopore array with superior chemical and mechanical robustness and pore size variability as ultra-fast high throughput nanopore sensors for detecting and sequencing DNA/RNA by parallel optical readout.
Collaborators: Prof. Joshua Edel @ Imperial College London, Prof. Per Jemth @ Uppsala University
