Research
Our research interest in the field of biophysics is to use physics techniques to study biological systems at the single-molecule level. This research is done in collaboration with Williams Lab at Northeastern University, Gelles Lab at Brandeis University, and Westerlund Lab at the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. We have custom-built a dual-beam optical tweezers setup to carry out the research here at BSU. We use it to trap single DNA molecules and study the interactions of prospective cancer drugs and proteins with DNA.
Dual Beam Optical Tweezers
Finely focused lasers are capable of trapping micron size beads. In our dual-beam optical tweezers setup, two counter-propagating laser beams are focused inside a flow cell to tap micron-sized polystyrene beads. Once a bead is trapped with the laser, it is attached to a micropipette (which is part of the flow cell) by suction. Then another bead is trapped by the laser and a single DNA molecule is chemically attached between the bead in the trap and the bead attached to the micropipette. The DNA can be mechanically manipulated by moving the flow cell with the help of a piezoelectric stage.
Studying Drug-DNA Interactions
Once we have a single DNA molecule, we can flow the small molecules (prospective drugs for cancer/HIV), then stretch and relax the DNA in the presence of the molecules. This allows us to quantify the binding properties and identify the binding mechanism of the potential drug of interest.
Current Projects and Project Leaders
Doxorubicin: Jason Martin, Zachary Ells'21 & Brian Dolle'19
Mitoxantrone: Aaron Ferreira & Helena Beeloo, Karan Patel'23
Netropsin: Jacob McNally & Youri Nabhan, Irbaz Shaikh'23
Past Projects and Project Leaders
Binuclear Ruthenium Threading Complexes: Adam Jabak'20 & Nicholas Bryden'17 (published in the Special Issue of Biophysical Journal "Biophysics of Cancer" in 2022)
Polymerase Kappa: Josh Watts'22
BI-3802: Jared McAuliffe'23 (Manuscript in Preparation)
Remdesivir: Ryan Bauer'23 (Manuscript in Preparation)