Seminar Series in Quantitative Life Sciences and Medicine

"Deconstructing biology with simple single-molecule imaging: Controlling conformation, confinement, and concentration"

Sabrina Leslie (McGill University)
Tuesday January 15, 12-1pm
Montreal Neurological Institute, DeGrandpre Communications Centre

Abstract: Molecular biology is messy and complex. The future of life sciences research, drug development, and many other fields depends on our ability to unravel the complex, molecular phenomena that underlie cellular function. Using currently available technologies, it is still challenging and costly to conduct single-molecule measurements that can potentially reveal the true complexity of life at the molecular scale. Convex Lens-induced Confinement (CLiC) microscopy is a simple, general method of imaging molecular interactions one molecule at a time. By mechanically confining molecules to the field of view, CLiC eliminates the complexity and potential biases inherent in methods such as optical tweezers and TIRF. In this talk I discuss how we employ CLiC to investigate how DNA supercoiling regulates the dynamic unwinding of specific target sites, and the activity of molecules binding to these sites – important biophysical questions for medicine and antisense oligonucleotide drug development (Scott et. al., Nucleic Acids Research 2018). I will also introduce new and emerging areas of exploration with CLiC including protein droplets, nanoparticle dynamics, CRISPR-Cas9 search processes, and therapeutics applications.