Courses
This elective course offers an introduction to the field of single molecule and single cell biophysics to graduate students in Johns Hopkins University and will be delivered in the School of Medicine. We will examine technologies such as single molecule fluorescence and force measurements, super-resolution imaging and single cell fluorescence detections that enable high precision molecular visualizations in vitro and in cells.
Critical reading and analysis of primary source literature is vital to scientific discourseand discovery. Students will be responsible for analyzing and critiquing papers in diverse topics and systemsranging from replication, transcription, and translation to enzyme mechanism, drug resistance, innate immunity,and signaling. Methods covered will include structural, biochemical, single-molecule, single-cell, and genomicapproaches. Students will deliver analytic presentations on at least two ground-breaking papers relevant to theseareas, and will be expected to actively participate in class discussion of experimental methodology and logic ofother papers assigned in the course.
The course will cover (1) macromolecules, (2) physical chemical principles dictating their biological behavior, and (3) methods to study them. Lectures will focus on practical application of the methods, experimental design, data collection, and elementary aspects of data analysis.
Thesis research
This is the first part of a seminar course covering a variety of topics involving the structure and function of proteins and nucleic acids. Recent topics have included: protein folding, evolutionary significance of introns, protein-DNA interactions, solution structure of peptides, prospects for designing novel proteins, and two-dimensional NMR.
Laboratory Research