FIP Seminar Series - Dr. Megan Valetine "Development of high force optical trapping methods to study complex biological systems"

Presenter: Dr. Megan Valentine

Dr. Megan Valetine, University of California, Santa Barbara "Development of high force optical trapping methods to study complex biological systems"Optical traps allow the precise application of forces to soft and biological materials. A large number of biophysics applications, including most single-molecule measurements of motor proteins and biopolymers, require forces in the range of one to a few tens of picoNewtons (pN) of force, which is easily achieved using a standard single-beam gradient optical trap. However, higher forces are often desired, for example to study collective behavior of multiple motor proteins, to activate mechanotransduction pathways in cells, or to probe the viscoelastic properties of cytoskeletal networks and other stiff polymeric materials.