The early oligomerization of amyloid β-protein (Aβ) has been shown to be an important event in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Designing small molecule inhibitors targeting Aβ oligomerization is one attractive and promising strategy for AD treatment. Here we used ion mobility spectrometry coupled to mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) to study the different effects of the molecular tweezers C...

Amyloidoses are diseases characterized by abnormal protein folding and self-assembly, for which no cure is available. Inhibition or modulation of abnormal protein self-assembly, therefore, is an attractive strategy for prevention and treatment of amyloidoses. We examined Lys-specific molecular tweezers and discovered a lead compound termed CLR01, which is capable of inhibiting the aggregation a...

Helicases are a diverse group of molecular motors that utilize energy derived from the hydrolysis of nucleoside triphosphates (NTPs) to unwind and translocate along nucleic acids. These enzymes play critical roles in nearly all aspects of nucleic acid metabolism, and consequently, a detailed understanding of helicase mechanisms at the molecular level is essential. Over the past few decades, sin...

Biomolecular logic devices can be applied for sensing and nano-medicine. We built three DNA tweezers that are activated by the inputs H(+)/OH(-); ; nucleic acid linker/complementary antilinker to yield a 16-states finite-state automaton. The outputs of the automata are the configuration of the respective tweezers (opened or closed) determined by observing fluorescence from a fluorophore/quenche...

We develop light-driven optoelectronic tweezers based on the organic photoconductive material titanium oxide phthalocyanine. These tweezers function based on negative dielectrophoresis (nDEP). The dynamic manipulation of a single microparticle and cell patterning are demonstrated by using this light-driven optoelectronic DEP chip. The adaptive light patterns that drive the optoelectronic DEP on...

We describe a simple method for creating multiple optical tweezers from a single laser beam using diffractive optical elements. As a demonstration of this technique, we have implemented a 434 square array of optical tweezers—the hexadeca tweezer. Not only will diffractively generated optical tweezers facilitate many new experiments in pure and applied physics, but they also will be useful for f...

Memory effects in time-series of experimental observables are ubiquitous, have important cosequences for the interpretation kinetic data, and may even affect function biomolecular nanomachines such as enzymes. Here we propose a set complementary methods quantifying conclusively magnitude duration memory time series reaction coordinate. The toolbox is general, robust, easy to use, does not rely ...

We have recently applied optical tweezers to study human erythrocyte deformation under various thermal-flow conditions, e.g. flow in an open space. Theoretically, Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been applied for simulating the complex flow-liposome interaction at different flow velocities. More importantly, both experimental and numerical studies have been carried out to determine the defo...

We present a quantitative analysis of 2D surface plasmon based optical tweezers able to trap microcolloids at a patterned metal surface under low laser intensity. Photonic force microscopy is used to assess the properties of surface plasmon traps, such as confinement and stiffness, revealing stable trapping with forces in the range of a few tens of femtonewtons. We also investigate the specific...