New Tool to Study Single Biological Molecules

[TECH NEWS]

By blending optical and atomic force microscope technologies, Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory researchers have found a way to complete 3-D measurements of single biological molecules with unprecedented accuracy. Existing technologies allow researchers to measure single molecules on the x and y axes of a 2-D plane. The new technology also allows height measurements (the z axis) down to the nanometer – just a billionth of a meter – without custom optics or special surfaces for the samples. “This is a completely new type of measurement that can be used to determine the z position of molecules,” said Sanjeevi Sivasankar, whose lab developed the new microscope technology – called standing wave axial nanometry (SWAN). Details of the technology were recently published by the journal Nano Letters. Sivasankar’s research program has two objectives: to learn how biological cells adhere to each other and to develop new tools to study those cells. Users who could benefit from the technology include medical researchers who need high-resolution data from microscopes.

August 2, 2012, Iowa State University