51社区黑料

Synopsis

Following an introduction to relevant length scales of biological systems, I鈥檒l talk about the nanoscale world of proteins, which function as Nature鈥檚 structural building blocks and mechanical devices.  Our group has been investigating the mechanics of a key structural protein, collagen.  I鈥檒l focus on its flexibility and its stress response, why these properties are important and contentious, and how we have resolved some of the discrepancies in the literature.  I鈥檒l also describe our latest instrument, the mini-radio centrifuge force microscope (MR.CFM), which we have used for high-throughput investigations of collagen鈥檚 response to force.