Lectures and seminars Revealing the personalities of molecules and cells
Title: "Revealing the personalities of molecules and cells" with Pallav Kosuri
Speaker
Pallav Kosuri, Assistant Professor, Integrative biology laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Abstract
Mechanical movements of DNA are integral to human biology: Polymerases pry apart the double-stranded helix to transcribe or replicate DNA; chromatin factors bend DNA to restrict or allow access to specific regions of the genome. Collectively, dynamic reactions like these shape the physical organization of our genome and determine the fate of every cell. To investigate protein-DNA interactions, we are developing Origami Movement Microscopy (OMM), a new technology that enables direct observation of DNA movements.
Our technology works by structurally amplifying DNA movements with the help of lever-arm-like DNA origami devices. Using our new approach, we can now observe protein-DNA movements at a resolution of single base pairs, revealing the mechanics of protein-DNA interactions in rich detail. We envision OMM to become a standard method in our pursuit to illuminate the largely unexplored universe of protein-DNA interaction dynamics. In this presentation, I will also briefly discuss some recent work in our lab using MERFISH to perform spatial transcriptome profiling with subcellular resolution in tissues.