Department of Chemistry Seminar - Yi-Chih Lin

The Department of Chemistry presents: Yi-Chih Lin
Title: Visualizing Single-Molecule Dynamics in Realtime: High-Speed AFM Approaches to Proteins, Nucleic Acids, and Their Interaction
Location: WEL 2.122
Refreshments served at 3:15pm

High-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) is transforming single-molecule biophysics by enabling real-time visualization of biomolecules in action. This technique captures the dynamic behavior of proteins, nucleic acids, and protein–nucleic acid complexes with high spatiotemporal resolution under near-physiological conditions, revealing transient states and rare events inaccessible by traditional methods. In this seminar, I will discuss our lab’s efforts to apply and advance HS-AFM for probing the dynamics of proteins, nucleic acids, and their interactions. I will begin with our studies of the self-assembly and substrate-induced conformational changes of phosphofructokinase-1 (PFKL), a key regulatory enzyme in glycolysis. I will then highlight our recent work tracking DNA topological dynamics, including the development of automated segmentation tools and a biophysical analysis platform for large-scale data extraction. Finally, I will present new directions in visualizing protein–nucleic acid interactions involved in gene replication, editing, and repair. Together, these studies illustrate how HS-AFM bridges structural biology, single-molecule biophysics, and chemical biology by directly visualizing dynamic macromolecular behavior, opening new avenues for mechanistic insight and discovery.