Combinatorial Microscopies for Super-Resolution Imaging of Molecular and Cellular Dynamics

理解并最终控制分子如何组装成功能结构在材料科学、化学、结构和细胞生物学等领域都是至关重要的。我们对了解自组装的基本机制有着长期的兴趣，从染料分子的自结合到激子结构，到蛋白质和肽的聚集。我们最近的工作集中在活细胞中分子组装的动力学，特别是膜受体的异质和同质结合如何影响细胞信号传导和细胞间相互作用。确定这些复杂组装过程的结构和构象要求及其动力学，最好是通过在分子尺度上实时和名义上的现实世界条件下检查这些现象来完成。我们专注于设计和优化组合显微镜，用于直接询问分子和生物分子的自组装。

Understanding and ultimately controlling how molecules assemble into functional structures is critical in fields ranging from materials science and chemistry to structural and cell biology. We have a long-standing interest in understanding the fundamental mechanisms of self-assembly, ranging from the self-association of dye molecules into excitonic structures, to protein and peptide aggregation. Our most recent work has focused on the dynamics of molecular assembly in live cells and specifically how the hetero- and homo-geneous association of membrane receptors impacts cell signaling and cell-cell interactions. Determining the structural and conformational requirements for these complex assembly processes, and the dynamics thereof, is best accomplished by examining these phenomena on the molecular scale, in real-time, and under nominally real-world conditions. We are focused on the design and optimization of combinatorial microscopies for the direct interrogation of molecular and biomolecular self-assembly.