Our speaker this month is Dr. Keith Weninger, Associate Professor and University Faculty Scholar in the Department of Physics at NC State:
Connecting protein conformational dynamics with function using single molecule fluorescence microscopy
Auditorium DH Hill Library (2304 D.H. Hill Library) Wednesday, April 23, 4pm
Dr. Weninger developed the use of single molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer to characterize the conformational dynamics of multimeric protein complexes:
“Observing single molecules allows discovery of properties that are typically hidden by averaging over the large number of unsynchronized molecules typical of biological samples. Single molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer is a method that allows real-time observation of protein and DNA conformational changes with nanometer resolution. I will describe our applications of single molecule fluorescence microscopy to studies of proteins involved in several phenomena including DNA mismatch repair, neurotransmitter release and cancer related processes.”