Author's School

Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

Author's Department/Program

Physics

Language

English (en)

Date of Award

7-11-2012

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Chair and Committee

Yan Mei Wang

Abstract

One of the principal challenges in the field of biophysics, particularly that of protein-nucleic acid interactions, is the need to analyze information from single proteins as opposed to ensembles of many molecules. Consequently, the advent of high-resolution imaging in single molecule microscopy has enabled researchers to probe the underlying processes of gene regulatory networks and other biological systems. There is, nonetheless, a tradeoff between spatial and temporal resolution, or the ability to localize a molecule in space at increasingly shorter time scales. As such, this dissertation addresses these challenges that hinder single molecule studies by:: i) developing deconvolution techniques in order to localize both immobile and dynamic molecules from their single images with improved spatial and temporal resolution,: ii) determining a protein's diffusive properties with high temporal resolution, and: iii) applying our analytical methods to study model biological systems.

Comments

Permanent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7936/K7ZS2TMM

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