V. Adrian Parsegian, Ph.D., Chief

Motivated to understand biological structures through the physical forces that animate them, the first theme of this Laboratory's work is to examine forces between and within biological macromolecules. To this end, we measure force vs. separation between molecules from all classes of bio-matter: lipids, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. The same "osmotic stress" strategy used for forces between molecules allows us to move the parts of single molecules to change the conformation of molecules such as ionic channels and hemoglobin. The response of single ionic channels to the stress of solutes creates a second theme, the dynamics of molecular movement by channel molecules and by the particles that pass through them. A third theme is to observe the formation of ordered molecular assemblies, 'liquid-crystals' of molecules such as DNA or lipids whose energies of assembly can be measured and used to realize the connection between molecular force and organization. Our alchemy combines molecular biologists, physical biochemists, experimental and theoretical physicists. The mix creates a practical science, a new logic for thinking about molecular recognition, conformation and assembly.