The general interest of our laboratory is macromolecular motion.
Movement is essential for the biological function of enzymes and nucleic acids.
A major focus of our research is motor enzymes. These remarkable molecular machines catalyze a chemical reaction, capture the free energy released by the reaction, and use this energy to perform biologically useful mechanical work. Motor enzymes play essential roles in diverse biological processes ranging from muscle contraction to neuronal development to mitosis to gene transcription. To learn how the enzymes work, we study them in vitro using molecular cloning, enzymology, protein chemistry, and biophysical chemistry techniques. The laboratory has also pioneered methods for visualizing nanometer-scale movements and individual chemical reaction events in single enzyme molecules.