Watching single molecules in action: How this can be used in neurodegeneration
Schedule
Thursday, April 30, 2020
15:00 UTC
David Klenerman
Sir Prof
University of Cambridge
Host: SONA
Recording
Open recording
Event Information
Recording
Available
Host
SONA
Duration
70 minutes
Abstract
This talk aims to show how new physical methods can advance biological and biomedical research. A major advance in physical chemistry in the last two decades has been the development of quantitative methods to directly observe individual molecules in solution, attached to surfaces, in the membrane of live cells or more recently inside live cells. These single-molecule fluorescence studies have now reached a stage where they can provide new insights into important biological problems. After presenting the principles of these methods, I will give some examples from our current research to probe the molecular basis of neurodegeneration. Here we have used single-molecule fluorescence to detect and analyse the low concentrations of soluble protein aggregates thought to be responsible for Alzheimer’s disease and determine the mechanisms by which they damage neurons. Lastly, I will describe how fundamental science aimed at watching single molecules incorporating nucleotides into DNA gave rise to a new rapid method to sequence DNA that is now widely used.
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