Research Keywords Biophysics, Single molecule manipulation, Optical instrumentation, Optical tweezers, Molecular motors, Mechanics of gene expression, RNA polymerase, Biopolymers. We are interested in using physical techniques, analysis and modeling to address important biological problems. Research in our lab focuses on studies of biological molecular motors using biophysical techniques.
Molecular motors are molecules in cells that are responsible for generating movement.
They convert chemical energy into mechanical movement, generating forces and displacements. Conventional molecular motors like myosin and kinesin use free energy from ATP hydrolysis to move along their substrates. We are especially interested in a different class of molecular motors - those that are involved in genetic information storage and retrieval. RNA polymerases constitute one such type of motor because a molecule of RNA polymerase moves along a DNA template as it transcribes genetic information from DNA into a new RNA polymer. This movement is powered by free energy liberated during a nucleoside triphosphate condensation reaction.