Introduction

     Our research focuses on investigating relationships between structural functional and mechanical properties of polysaccharides, DNA and proteins, which we study at a single molecule level using scanning probe microscopy techniques and computational methods involving Molecular Dynamics simulations and ab initio quantum mechanical calculations.       The ultimate goal is to elucidate basic phenomena such as: molecular recognition interactions between proteins and sugars, mechanotransduction that underlies mechanical sensing and hearing, and protein folding that is fundamental to all biology. We are also interested in investigating DNA damage and repair using atomic force microscopy and spectroscopy techniques that we plan to develop into nanoscale DNA diagnostic tools.

DNA NANOMECHANICS, DAMAGE AND REPAIR

     In two new projects we use Atomic Force Microscopy to study the relationship between DNA elasticity and its structural integrity. By exploiting both AFM imaging and force spectroscopy capabilities we plan to study DNA damage and repair and aim at developing nanoscale DNA diagnostic assays with a single molecule sensitivity

 AFM 

  We use a Pico-force AFM from Digital Instruments/ Veeco for our pulling and imaging experiments. We also are building our own 1-D and 3-D AFM instruments.

Computer resoures

   We have an 8 CPUs linux cluster from Parallel Quantum Solutions dedicated to Ab Initio calulations of sugar rings. We also have a 10 CPU linux cluster dedicated to molecular dynamics calculations of polysaccharides.