Webinar - Visualizing Biomolecular Reactions and Assemblies

Video-rate atomic force microscopy as a tool for single molecule biochemistry and biophysics

Join us Tuesday, March 17
08:00 PDT / 11:00 EDT / 15:00 BST / 16:00 CEST

Direct observation of biomolecular interactions and assembly requires high spatiotemporal resolution in a physiological environment. High-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM), as enabled by the Asylum Research Cypher VRS video-rate AFM, provides a unique solution. Applications scientist Jonathan Moffat will provide a brief introduction to high-speed AFM capabilities and share some new technology innovations from Asylum Research. Researcher Jim De Yoreo will then share work by his group that is using the Cypher VRS to help understand biomolecular assembly processes.

Dr. De Yoreo will show how HS-AFM combined with statistical analysis can deliver a quantitative understanding of protein self-assembly. Self-assembled protein structures exhibit a wide range of motifs that enable complex functions underlying cellular processes. Although primary sequence dictates the governing interactions, function emerges from their mesoscale organization. Understanding the energetic controls and assembly pathways requires an ability to probe dynamic events as proteins diffuse and interact, which only HS-AFM can provide.

In this webcast, the speakers will explore:

• What types of single molecule research can video-rate AFM enable?
• What levels of spatial and temporal resolution can video-rate AFM achieve?
• How can video-rate AFM studies complement other techniques in biochemistry and biophysics?