Monday, October 2, 20173:00pm - 4:30pm

Nanostructures for Single-Molecule Biophysics

Abstract

Microfluidic devices, from gene chips to cell sorters to portable glucose meters, are revolutionizing the way we perform biological and chemical analyses. As we shrink fluidic structures down further into the nanoscale, new physical phenomena emerge and present us with unique opportunities for studying single molecule biophysics. We also discover new ways to perform useful bioanalyses. I will describe a few lines of inquiry where fundamental science and technological possibilities converge. In particular, I will discuss the physics of confined polymers, how nanofluidic devices enable us to control the shape and motion of individual DNA molecules through their free energy landscape, and a new idea for measuring the sequence of a single biopolymer using mass spectrometry in combination with a nanoscale ion source.

Biography

Derek Stein joined the faculty in Physics Department at Brown in the fall of 2006, following postdoctoral work at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. He obtained his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University in 2003, and his B.Sc. from McGill University in 1997. Prof. Stein's research is mainly focused on the development of nanostructures like nanopores and nanofluidic devices for the study of single biomolecules. He is also interested in novel construction materials for energy-efficient buildings.