BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//RLASKEY//CALENDEROUS//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260831T080404Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20121116T203436Z
DTSTART:20090410T160000Z
DTEND:20090410T170000Z
UID:event428@bu.edu
URL:http://physics.bu.edu/internal/events/show/428
SUMMARY:Conformational Sculpting of DNA: Nanofluidics for Single Molecule D
	NA Analysis and Manipulation
DESCRIPTION:Featuring Walter Reisner\, Brown University\nHosted by: Ophelia
	 Tsui\n\nPart of the Biophysics/Condensed Matter Seminar Series.\n\nAbstrac
	t:\nMy work uses sub micron nanofabrication tools like electron beam lithog
	raphy to\nexplore the fundamental physics of polymers in confinement and to
	 develop\nnanotechnology approaches to key problems in biology. When a poly
	mer is confined in a\nstructure with dimension below the polymer’s free s
	olution gyration radius the confining\ngeometry will alter the polymer equi
	librium conformation. This fundamental result of\nstatistical physics has a
	 key technological implication: polymer conformation can be\nmanipulated an
	d controlled onchip by design of the nanofludic confining geometry. This\nt
	alk will consider two implications of this notion of ‘conformational scul
	pting’ for the\nfield of single molecule DNA analysis. In a nanochannel\,
	 self-exclusion interactions\nwithin the polymer will create a linear unscr
	olling of the genome along the channel for\nanalysis. Nanochannel based DNA
	 stretching can serve as a platform for a new optical\nmapping technique ba
	sed on measuring the pattern of partial melting along the extended\nmolecul
	es. We believe this melting mapping technology is the first optically based
	 single\nmolecule technique sensitive to genome wide sequence variation tha
	t does not require an\nadditional enzymatic labeling or restriction scheme.
	 In addition\, by embedding sub\nmicron nanotopographies in a slit-like nan
	ochannel\, we can create spatial variation in\nconfinement across the slit.
	 The confinement variation in turns varies a molecule’s\nconfigurational 
	freedom\, or entropy. Consequently\, by controlling device geometry\, we\nc
	an create a user-defined free energy landscape that allows us to ‘sculptâ
	€™ the equilibrium\nconfiguration of a molecule. Individual square depressi
	ons\, or nanopits\, can be used to\ntrap DNA at specific points in the slit
	. Arrays of nanopits will lead to complex\n‘digitized’ conformations wi
	th a single molecule linking a number of pits.
LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215
STATUS:CONFIRMED
CLASS:PUBLIC
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR