BioLight Seminar – Unravelling biomolecular dynamics by single molecule mass measurement
Prof Philip Kukura FRS
University of Oxford
Friday 27th February 2026 10.00
School of Physics and Astronomy, Lecture Theatre C
Talk title: Unravelling biomolecular dynamics by single molecule mass measurement
Abstract
Biomolecular mechanisms and interactions form the basis of biological function and regulation. Elucidating the underlying processes traditionally relies on a combination of structural characterization and bulk studies aimed at revealing the associated energetics and kinetics. Both approaches, however, come with some intrinsic bias, such as towards the most stable species or the averaging of individual to ensemble behaviour, and neither is capable of visualizing the underlying dynamics. I will show how mass photometry, single molecule mass measurement in solution, can be used to fully characterise biomolecular interactions, ranging from simple 1:1 interactions to the assembly of 60-mers in the context of virus-like capsids. I will close by presenting a novel assay that enables mass-resolved observation of single molecule dynamics in solution with ms-temporal resolution for up to hours, which we use for the first molecular-level observation of viral capsid assembly.
The seminar is jointly organized by the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Centre of Biophotonics