Xiaowei Zhuang
Single Molecule Biology and Mechanism

Our group is developing optical imaging techniques to monitor, in real-time, the behavior of individual biological molecules and complexes, in vitro and in live cells. This approach naturally overcome the synchronization problem and allows transient intermediates, parallel pathways, and static and dynamic heterogeneities to be directly observed. By combining the dynamic information obtained at the single-molecule or single-complex level with structural, biochemical and cellular analyses, we hope to create “molecular movies” of biological processes and to obtain a mechanistic understanding of these processes. We currently focus on the following specific areas: (i) cellular entry of viruses; (ii) folding and assembly of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) enzymes; (iii) developing new techniques for single molecule detection and bio-sensing.

Publications:
Zhuang, X. 2005. Single-molecule RNA science. Ann. Rev. Biophys. Biomol. Struct. 34: 399-414.

Bates, M., Blosser, T.R. and Zhuang, X. 2005. Short-range spectroscopic ruler based on a single-molecule optical switch. Phys. Rev. Lett. 94: 108101.

Lakadamyali, M., Rust, M.J., Babcock, H.P. and Zhuang, X. 2003. Visualizing infection of individual influenza viruses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100: 9280-9285.

Bokinsky, G., Rueda, D., Misra, V.K., Rhodes, M.M., Gordus, A., Babcock, H.P., Walter, N.G. and Zhuang, X. 2003. Single molecule transition-state analysis of RNA folding. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100: 9302-9307.

Zhuang, X., Kim, H., Pereira, M.J., Babcock, H.P., Walter, N.G. and Chu, S. 2002. Correlating structural dynamics and functioning in single ribozyme molecules. Science 296: 1473-1478.