[2018 Spring Life Sciences & IBB Seminar]

▶Subject: Seeing the Unseen with Single-Molecule Perspective

▶Speaker: Prof. Tae-Young Yoon (Department of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University)

▶Date: 4:30PM/Mar. 9(Fri.)/2018

▶Place: Auditorium(1F), Postech Biotech Center

▶Abctract
Single-molecule methods, which handle and monitor molecules one at a time, have proven to be a useful toolkit for understanding molecular mechanisms underlying many essential biological processes. I will talk about two recent efforts in my lab, where we apply single-molecule methods to membrane proteins. First, by employing single-molecule fluorescence imaging as the detection scheme of the co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) analysis, we are developing a co-IP analysis that allows time-resolved monitoring of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) with an orders-of-magnitude improved sensitivity. With this new capability, we quantitatively determine the intensity of cell signaling steps encoded by corresponding PPIs. This sheds shed new light onto the molecular lesions that drive individual cancers at the PPI level, where signal transduction physically occurs. Second, by applying pN-scale force with magnetic tweezers, we revealed large hysteresis in a mechanical unizipping and rezipping cycle of the SNARE complex. With combined application of different single-molecule methods, we showed how this rigid SNARE complex is efficiently disassembled by NSF and SNAP. In particular, we observed that NSF exploits a spring-loaded mechanism to tightly couple its ATP hydrolysis with unfolding of the SNARE complex. I will close the talk with brief outlook for future studies.

▶Inquiry: : Prof. Sung Ho Ryu (279-2292)

* This seminar will be given in English.
Please refrain from taking photos during seminars. *