Harvard WAM Seminars

Abstract
Professor Adam Cohen , Harvard University


 
Structure and dynamics of a single molecule of DNA in solution


The Anti-Brownian Electrokinetic trap (ABEL trap) uses active feedback to suppress the Brownian motion a single molecule, so that we can watch the molecule for a long time.  The ABEL trap also has a minimal effect on the internal dynamics of a trapped molecule.  We used the ABEL trap to hold single molecules of fluorescently labeled DNA, and then applied high-speed video microscopy to record the internal wiggling of these molecules.  I will present various descriptive statistics of the motion, and make quantitative comparison with theories of polymer dynamics.  We developed a coarse-grained description of the shapes of random walks that may be useful in other scenarios where random walks occur.

 

Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences