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
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Brian Baker
Coleman Professor of Life Sciences
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Jessica Brown
Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry
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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
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Patricia Champion
Professor of Biological Sciences
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Holly Goodson
Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry; Concurrent Professor of Biological Sciences
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Masaru Kuno
Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry
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Shaun Lee
Monahan Family Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
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Brittany Morgan
John V. O'Connor Assistant Professor in Cancer Drug Discovery
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Sylwia Ptasinska
Professor of Physics
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Arnaldo Serrano
Assistant Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry
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Katharine White
Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry