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Imaging & Structure

Creating a clear picture of a biophysical system offers many advantages for understanding its properties and functions. Notre Dame has extensive state-of-the-art instrumentation and facilities for biophysical characterization of macromolecules, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging, mass spectrometry and proteomics, calorimetry, surface plasmon resonance, fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy, X-ray crystallography and single molecule imaging. Notre Dame researchers have developed novel mass spectrometric methods for charazterizing 3D cell culture systems, and other groups are developing molecular probes to allow researchers to see the effects of molecules in vivo for drug screening and binding studies. Researchers are developing atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy instrumentation to selectively detect receptor binding of small molecules within a cellular membrane and characterize receptor target sites. Light transmission spectroscopy is used to investigate the size distribution of particles within cells to determine the governing principles of internal organization or to distinguish between normal and cancerous cells. Recent technical advances have increased our ability to resolve the size and shape of biomolecules in complex environments, allowing Notre Dame researchers to use structural properties to predict biomolucule function in healthy tissue and disease systems. 

Affiliated Researchers

  • Brian Baker
    Coleman Professor of Life Sciences

  • Jessica Brown
    Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry

  • Francis Castellino
    Kleiderer-Pezold Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry; Director, W.M. Keck Center for Transgene Research; Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine

  • Patricia Champion
    Professor of Biological Sciences

  • Saurja DasGupta
    Assistant Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry

  • Holly Goodson
    Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry; Concurrent Professor of Biological Sciences

  • Masaru K. Kuno
    Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry

  • Shaun Lee
    Monahan Family Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

  • Brittany Morgan
    John V. O'Connor Assistant Professor in Cancer Drug Discovery

  • Sylwia Ptasinska
    Professor of Physics

  • Arnaldo Serrano
    Assistant Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry

  • Katharine White
    Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry