Direct Visualization of Dynamic Biomolecular and Cellular Processes by High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy
Event details
| Date | 20.10.2014 |
| Hour | 12:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Toshio Ando, Kanazawa University (Japan) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
DISTINGUISHED LECTURE IN BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
Abstract:
Proteins are dynamic in nature and function at the single molecule level. Therefore, directly observing individual molecules at high spatiotemporal resolution must be a straightforward approach to understanding how proteins function. Although atomic force microscopy (AFM) allows us to observe individual molecules in physiological solutions, its low imaging rate has limited its usefulness in life sciences. To overcome this problem, various efforts have been carried out in the last two decades and consequently high-speed AFM has now come of age. It can film protein molecules in action at sub-100 ms temporal and sub-molecular spatial resolution without disturbing their function. Various application studies carried out so far on protein specimens have provided not only corroborative “visual evidence” for previous inferences of their molecular processes but also resolved long-standing questions that have previously been difficult or impossible to address by traditional approaches. Therefore, the filmed images have successfully provided more and deeper insights into how the proteins operate to function. High-speed AFM techniques have now being further advanced in various directions: wide-area/fast scanning, sample manipulation during imaging, tip-scan mode for large samples, and combination with light microscopy techniques. Some of these developments have already made it possible to visualize dynamic events occurring in live cells. Thus, high-speed AFM will become a more useful tool for biological research and assist new discoveries.
Bio:
Toshio Ando studied physics, applied physics, and biophysics at Waseda University and received his Dc. Sci. degree in 1980 from Waseda University. After working on the mechanism of muscle contraction and fluorescence techniques for six and half years as a postdoctoral fellow and then an assistant research biophysicist at UC San Francisco (Manuel Morales’s lab), he was appointed to the faculty at Kanazawa University, where he is currently a Full Professor of Physics and the Director of the Bio-AFM Frontier Research Center. His research interests include the elucidation of functional mechanism of proteins, particularly of motor proteins, and the instrument development of high-speed scanning probe microscopes. He has received many awards for his development of high-speed AFM and its biological applications.
Abstract:
Proteins are dynamic in nature and function at the single molecule level. Therefore, directly observing individual molecules at high spatiotemporal resolution must be a straightforward approach to understanding how proteins function. Although atomic force microscopy (AFM) allows us to observe individual molecules in physiological solutions, its low imaging rate has limited its usefulness in life sciences. To overcome this problem, various efforts have been carried out in the last two decades and consequently high-speed AFM has now come of age. It can film protein molecules in action at sub-100 ms temporal and sub-molecular spatial resolution without disturbing their function. Various application studies carried out so far on protein specimens have provided not only corroborative “visual evidence” for previous inferences of their molecular processes but also resolved long-standing questions that have previously been difficult or impossible to address by traditional approaches. Therefore, the filmed images have successfully provided more and deeper insights into how the proteins operate to function. High-speed AFM techniques have now being further advanced in various directions: wide-area/fast scanning, sample manipulation during imaging, tip-scan mode for large samples, and combination with light microscopy techniques. Some of these developments have already made it possible to visualize dynamic events occurring in live cells. Thus, high-speed AFM will become a more useful tool for biological research and assist new discoveries.
Bio:
Toshio Ando studied physics, applied physics, and biophysics at Waseda University and received his Dc. Sci. degree in 1980 from Waseda University. After working on the mechanism of muscle contraction and fluorescence techniques for six and half years as a postdoctoral fellow and then an assistant research biophysicist at UC San Francisco (Manuel Morales’s lab), he was appointed to the faculty at Kanazawa University, where he is currently a Full Professor of Physics and the Director of the Bio-AFM Frontier Research Center. His research interests include the elucidation of functional mechanism of proteins, particularly of motor proteins, and the instrument development of high-speed scanning probe microscopes. He has received many awards for his development of high-speed AFM and its biological applications.
Practical information
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