MRI: Acquisition of a Lifetime Fluorimeter for Columbia University's Precision Biomolecular Characterization Facility

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This award is supported by the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) and Chemical Research Instrumentation (CRIF) programs. Professor Ruben Gonzalez from Columbia University and colleagues Arthur Palmer, Colin Nuckolls and Laura Kaufman have acquired a lifetime fluorimeter. The instrument measures the light emitted from a sample as it decays over a period of time. This is the fluorescence (decay) signal caused by irradiation of the sample by a laser. The light emitted provides information on various properties of biochemical systems such as enzymes and proteins. The decay signal from materials such as solar cells helps to improve their efficiency. It provides data useful to optimize future optoelectric devices. The instrument is being used by graduate and undergraduate students in research and in laboratory courses. It prepares the students for future careers in science, engineering and advanced education. The award is aimed at enhancing research and education at all levels. The instrumentation is being used to study single-molecule bimolecular machines and protein folding dynamics, recognition, and catalysis. Structural, thermodynamic, and mechanistic studies of bimolecular processes are being carried out. The excited state-dynamics of organic chromophores is being studied, and photo physical studies of conjugated polymers. Another investigation involves the photo-physics of singlet-fission-capable organic chromophores. An investigation of the mechanisms of colloidal nanoparticle nucleation and growth is being pursued.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.