Protein folding
Proteins are wonderful examples of self-organized nano-machines. Proteins are peptide polymer chains built from an amino acid library containing 20 different members. One of the most fundamental and challenging problems in molecular biophysics is understanding how these polypeptide chains fold into complex 3 dimensional structures that can act as channels, enzymes and even motor proteins. We use single molecule mechanical methods to measure the forces directly that stabilize protein structures. Mechanical forces offer the unique possibility to study the energy landscapes of proteins along a well-defined reaction coordinate. From:
