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The University of Southampton
Biological Sciences

Single molecules meet single cells: DNA/RNA polymerases in live bacteria Seminar

Time:
13:00 - 14:00
Date:
12 November 2013
Venue:
Building 85 Room 2207

For more information regarding this seminar, please telephone Maria Hilliard on 02380 598148 or email M.Hilliard@soton.ac.uk .

Event details

Achilliefs research focuses on transcription, how RNA polymerases work and how they are controlled by other biomolecules, his group uses single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy (SMFS). The ultimate goal of the work is the generation of dynamic, movie-like views of transcription that will fully unravel its mechanisms. His group also develops new reagents and general single-molecule fluorescence methods for studying bionanomachines and for performing ultrasensitive diagnostics.

Advances in fluorophores and detectors have improved detection sensitivities to the level of individual molecules without the need for molecular amplification. My group uses such fluorescence assays to study basic genetic mechanisms and develop biosensors for biomedical applications.

Along these lines, I will describe studies based on single-molecule detection in single Escherichia coli cells. After discussing the spatial localization of RNA polymerase in single fixed E.coli cells, I will discuss studies of the kinetics and cellular organisation of DNA repair in single living E.coli cells using localization-based super-resolution imaging of the DNA polymerase and DNA ligase. Finally, I will discuss physical methods for delivering fluorescent biosensors (proteins and DNA) in living bacteria and observing single-molecule fluorescence and single-molecule FRET in the bacterial cytoplasm.

Speaker information

Professor Achilliefs Kapanidis, University of Oxford, Biological Physics Group

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