Probing biomolecular assembly: Structure and dynamics

控制分子如何组装以形成功能结构并了解这些组装过程的动态是从材料科学和化学到结构和细胞生物学等领域的基础。可以说，确定这种相互作用的结构和构象要求最好通过在分子尺度上、在名义上的真实条件下实时检查这些事件来完成。在细胞中，许多定义其功能、结构和动力学的事件发生在膜上或膜内，涉及与该环境相互作用或存在于该环境内的分子。例如，细胞表面粘附分子可以帮助细胞与其他细胞结合并相互作用，而其他分子则促进特定离子进入（或离开）细胞或细胞内的细胞器内，以调节特定功能。信号通过膜结合分子转入细胞，膜结合分子通过特定信号配体的结合而被激活；然而，这些过程通常是用非常笼统的术语来表述的，并且支撑这些过程的真实动力学和特定分子尺度事件在很大程度上仍然未知，这是由于难以确定组成分子的结构、构象和方向的结果。我们的目标是开发能够直接解决这些问题的方法

Controlling how molecules assemble to form functional structures and understanding the dynamics of these assembly processes is fundamental to efforts in fields ranging from materials science and chemistry to structural and cell biology. Arguably, determining the structural and conformational requirements for such interactions is best accomplished by examining these events at the molecular scale, in real-time, and under nominally real-world conditions. In the cell, many events that define its function, structure, and dynamics take place at or within a membrane, involving molecules that interact with or exist within this environment. For example, cell surface adhesion molecules can help a cell bind to, and interact with, other cells, while other molecules facilitate the transport of specific ions into (or out of) a cell, or within organelles in the cell, to regulate specific functions. Signals are transduced into the cell through membrane-bound molecules that are activated by the binding of specific signalling ligands; however, these processes are often cast in very general terms, and the true dynamics and specific molecular-scale events that underpin these processes remain largely unknown, a consequence of the difficulties in determining the structure, conformation, and orientation of the constituent molecules. Our goal is to develop approaches that allow us to directly address these very issues