Prof. Ralph Jimenez, University of Colorado at Boulder

Ultrafast spectroscopy and microfluidics-based methods for investigating protein dynamics

Physical Chemistry Seminar Series

My group develops optical methods to quantify biophysical phenomena such as protein dynamics and cellular mechanical properties, and biotechnologically-relevant problems such as photosynthesis and lipid accumulation in algae.

In this seminar, I will discuss one perspective on the importance of sub-nanosecond conformational fluctuations of proteins, and describe development of new methods for measuring dynamics and conformational heterogeneity with femtosecond spectroscopy. I will also describe new microfluidics-cytometry based methods for measuring the photophysical properties of red fluorescent proteins, and the prospects for a “molecular evolution” approach to improving the photobleaching properties of these molecules employing a cell-sorter.

For more information contact Prof. Christine Payne (404-385-3125).