LUMICKS's C-Trap

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Project Summary The goal of this proposal is to acquire a state-of-the-art optical tweezers instrument combined with multi-color single-molecule imaging for the recently created Core for Single-Molecule Analysis (CSMA) within the Gruss- Lipper Biophotonics Center (GLBP) at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Einstein). Specifically, we propose to make LUMICKS’ C-Trap (dual optical tweezers combined with 3-color confocal imaging and multi-channel microfluidics) available to the researchers of Einstein through expert training, consultation and collaborations. Due to the integration of optical tweezers with multi-color fluorescence microscopy, the C-Trap allows correlative force (mechanosensing) and fluorescence measurements to be performed, enabling investigation of a wide range of biological processes, including single-molecule studies on DNA- and RNA-protein interactions (transcription, DNA and RNA replication, and DNA repair), translation, proteasomal degradation, phase separation, and immunology, to name a few areas of research. Placement of the C-Trap in the CSMA will greatly enhance and accelerate NIH-funded projects at Einstein, many of which are ideal for single-molecule studies and would greatly benefit from access to this technology. In particular, the C-Trap will be used to study the regulation of the microtubule transport system, chromatin organization and function, transcriptional regulation, DNA replication and repair, RNA editing, and bacterial motility. The requested technology will therefore open up novel possibilities for research on biological pathways relevant to cancer—including the testing of candidate therapeutics—and enable junior faculty to write R01 grant applications that could otherwise not be written. In doing so, the C-Trap will place Einstein at the forefront of innovative, single-molecule cancer research and thereby increase the recognition of Einstein, its faculty, and the Einstein Cancer Center in particular. Just four years ago, the Nobel prize for physics was awarded to Arthur Ashkin for the invention of optical tweezers, highlighting the innovative nature of this technology and the timely manner of this proposal. In making the C- Trap available to cancer biologists at Einstein, new cancer therapies and treatments can be developed, which will benefit human health.