Probing biomolecular assembly: Structure and dynamics

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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