Studying protein folding at single molecule level with optical tweezers ,Modena - Italy

Advances in single molecule manipulation techniques have recently made it possible to revisit protein folding with a new approach. A novel method has been developed to study protein folding using optical tweezers (1). In these experiments, individual proteins are directly manipulated and their response to force characterized in terms of different parameters, such as: i) deformability of the native state, ii) magnitude of the forces holding together secondary and tertiary structures, iii) unfolding and refolding trajectories, iv) anisotropy of the protein’s energy landscape, v) thermodynamics and kinetics of the interconversion between different molecular conformations. These studies have uncovered information previously inaccessible to more traditional ensemble techniques (2, 3).

At the Department of Physics of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia we are now seeking a motivated PhD student willing to undertake research in this field. The PhD appointment is for a period of three years. Candidates should have a B.S. or M.S. in physics or related fields.

For further details please contact Dr. Ciro Cecconi. Applicants should send their resumes (including email address) to Dr. Ciro Cecconi (ciro.cecconi@gmail.com).

References
1) Cecconi, C., Shank, E., Marqusee, S., Bustamante, C., “Protein-DNA chimeras for single molecule mechanical folding studies with the optical tweezers.” European Biophysics Journal, 37 (6), 729-738 (2008).
2) Cecconi, C., Shank, E., Bustamante, C., Marqusee, S., “Direct Observation of the Three-State Folding of a Single Protein Molecule.” Science, 309, 2057-2060, (2005).
3) Shank, E., Cecconi, C., Dill, J., Marqusee, S., Bustamante, C., “The folding cooperativity of a protein is controlled by the topology of its polypeptide chain”, Nature 465 (7298), 637-641, (2010).