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NINT Principal Investigator, Nano Life Sciences
Professor, Department of Physics, University of Alberta
Dr. Michael Woodside uses force as a probe of biological systems, in particular to study how single biological molecules fold into functional, three-dimensional structures. This is one of the most basic questions of modern biology, with implications for understanding the function of biological molecules, the molecular basis of many diseases, and the design of novel biomolecular materials. By applying force to the ends of a single biomolecule, it can be made to unfold and refold repeatedly, allowing the progress of the folding reaction to be observed directly and the properties of the molecule that determine how it folds and what structure it takes on to be investigated.
The principal tool in this research is an exquisitely sensitive optical tweezers apparatus, used to apply force to single molecules and observe their response. State-of-the-art tweezers developed by Dr. Woodside and colleagues at Stanford University are capable of measuring motions as little as 1 Å (ångström) with rates from mHz to kHz, greatly expanding the range of folding behaviours that they can investigate. Previous work on the folding of single hairpins of DNA is now being extended to study structure formation in RNA and protein molecules.
Dr. Woodside has also studied the motion of single electrons through semiconductors and used force probes to measure scattering and local electrostatic potentials.
Employment
- Research Associate, NINT, National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, Alberta (seconded to Dept. of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford CA). 2002-2006.
- Postdoctoral Research, Physics Dept., Cornell University, Ithaca NY, USA. 2002.
- Doctoral Research: Physics Dept., University of California, Berkeley CA, USA. 1996-2001.
Education
- Ph.D., Physics, University of California, Berkeley CA, USA. 2001.
- B.Sc., Physics Specialist and Music Major, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. 1995.
Highlights
- "Direct Observation of Hierarchical Folding in Single Riboswitch Aptamers," W.J. Greenleaf, K.L. Frieda, D.A.N. Foster, M.T. Woodside, S.M. Block, Science 319: 630 (2008).
- "Direct Measurement of the Full, Sequence-Dependent Folding Landscape of a Nucleic Acid," M. T. Woodside , P. C. Anthony, W. M. Behnke-Parks, K. Larizadeh, D. Herschlag, S. M. Block, Science 314 (5801): 1001-1004 (2006).
- "Nanomechanical Measurements of the Sequence-Dependent Folding Landscapes of Single Nucleic Acid Hairpins," Michael T. Woodside, William M. Behnke-Parks, Kevan Larizadeh, Kevin Travers, Daniel Herschlag, Steven M. Block Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 103 (16): 6190-6195 (2006).
- "Passive All-Optical Force Clamp for High-Precision Laser Trapping," William J. Greenleaf,* Michael T. Woodside*, Elio A. Abbondanzieri, Steven M. Block, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 208102 (2005). (*These authors contributed equally.)
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"Scanned Probe Imaging of Single-Electron Charge States in Nanotube Quantum Dots," Michael T. Woodside and Paul L. McEuen, Science 296, 1098 (2002).
Contact Information
11421 Saskatchewan Drive
NINT Building, Room 2-068
Edmonton, AB T6G 2M9
Phone: 780-641-1695
Fax: 780-641-1601
E-mail: Michael.Woodside@nrc.gc.ca
