Scanning Force Microscopy analysis of DNA repair
Claire Wyman
- afd Stralingsoncologie
The limits of our understanding of biological processes are determined by the technology available to study and define them. Recent advances in microscopy techniques provided new tools that expand these limits. The application of scanning force microscope (SFM, also called atomic force microscope or AFM) imaging to study the architecture of proteins and their functional assemblies on DNA at the single molecule level provides new and exciting information on the mechanism of vital cellular processes. We are applying SFM imaging to understand the molecular mechanisms of complex DNA repair pathways, essential processes for genome maintenance and cancer avoidance in humans. Rapid progress in molecular biology has resulted in the identification and isolation of proteins and protein complexes that do the work of repairing our DNA and protecting us from cancer.
These proteins and protein complexes can now be analyzed at the single molecule level whereby the functional assemblies are often described as nanomachines. Understanding how they work requires understanding their structure and functional arrangement in three dimensions. The SFM provides three-dimensional structural information on biomolecules at nanometer resolution. It is at the level of determining the arrangement and functional rearrangement of components that SFM provides unique information to further our understanding of these vital DNA repair processes.
Participation in our research would involve preparing DNA or DNA-protein complexes that are involved in DNA repair reactions and analyzing them by SFM imaging. (De voertaal van deze stage is Engels).