Talk abstracts

Talk on Saturday 03:00-03:30pm submitted by Dongping Zhong

Biological Dynamics, Function and Control

Dongping Zhong (Programs of Biophysics, Biochemistry, and Chemical Physics, Departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Biochemistry,The Ohio State University)

Abstract:
Understanding biological function is determined by our ability to map out structures and dynamics of macromolecules. The past decades have witnessed great progress in the determination of structures, but the study of dynamics is much less advanced. One of the major challenges in modern biophysics is to characterize such dynamics at the atomic scale and thus elucidate the relevant molecular mechanisms. With femtosecond resolution, it is now possible to observe atomic motions in real time. This temporal resolution is crucial for a complete description of the elementary dynamics which is an essential determinant of the function at longer times, as observed in vision and photosynthesis. In our lab, we are integrating state-of-the-art ultrafast lasers and molecular biology techniques to unravel several important biological systems with femtosecond temporal resolution and single-residue/single-molecule spatial resolution. The ultimate goal is to reveal biological complexity and control its property and function.

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