Applications of Single-molecule Spectroscopy and Microscopy: from RNA …

Single-molecule spectroscopy/microscopy is a powerful tool for studying dynamic interactions of biological molecules their find structures. Using their superior spatial and temporal resolutions under biologically relevant conditions, scientists have determined the detailed kinetics and mechanisms of a variety of biological processes. My research group has developed several of the state-of-the-art single molecule techniques such as single-molecule multi-color FRET, FRET combined with single-molecule manipulations, video-rate confocal microscopy for single-molecule fluorescence imaging and superresolution fluorescence microscopy in thick samples. Using these techniques, we are addressing a variety of biophysical questions from RNA folding to neural connection map reconstruction.