Dual-Polarization Interferometry: A Novel Technique To Light up the Nanomolecular World
[EN] The challenging lecture given in 1959 by physicist and Nobel Prize awarded R. P. Feynman: “There's plenty of room at the bottom” is considered to be the starting point for nanotechnology. With this peculiar title, Feynman encouraged researchers to explore beyond the atomic level and predicted exciting new phenomena that might revolutionize science and technology. Among these pioneering researchers are Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell and William E. Moerner, who have been awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 for developing the super-resolved fluorescence microscopy. However, it is important to remark that the exploration of this amazing nanomolecular world began in the early 1980s …
Mapping molecular binding by means of conformational dynamics measurements
[EN] Protein-protein interactions are key in virtually all biological processes. The study of these interactions and the interfaces that mediate them play a key role in the understanding of biological function. In particular, the observation of protein¿protein interactions in their dynamic environment is technically difficult. Here two surface analysis techniques, dual polarization interferometry and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring, were paired for real-time mapping of the conformational dynamics of protein¿ protein interactions. Our approach monitors this dynamics in real time and in situ, which is a great advancement within technological platforms for drug discover…