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Abstract:

A single molecule is ridiculously tiny, about 1 nanometer, roughly 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Yet individual molecules rule the nanoscale activity and structure in our cells. Thirty years ago, single molecules were first detected optically, but how do we really detect a single molecule today, and what good is it? It is an amazing fact that you can even detect single molecules with your own eyes. When a new regime of science is breached, surprises often occur: single molecules show amazing dynamics, blink on and off, and can be controlled by light. Far from being only an esoteric effect, these 鈥渟witching properties鈥� of molecules can now be used to obtain 鈥渟uper-resolution鈥� to see the tiny nanoscale structures inside cells. Essentially, with tiny single-molecule light sources decorating a structure, the on/off process is used to light up only subsets at a time, and a pointillist reconstruction reveals the hidden nanometer-scale structure, opening up a new frontier for understanding and applications. And if we watch single molecules moving around, we learn about details of local environments and time-dependent changes inside cells.

Bio:

William Esco Moerner聽(born June 24, 1953) is an American聽physical chemist聽and聽chemical physicist聽with current work in the聽biophysics聽and imaging of single molecules. He is credited with achieving the first optical detection and聽spectroscopy of a single molecule聽in聽condensed phases, along with his postdoc, Lothar Kador.聽Optical study of single molecules has subsequently become a widely used聽single-molecule experiment聽in chemistry, physics and biology.聽In 2014, he was awarded the聽Nobel Prize in Chemistry.