Biochemistry

Non-receptor protein-tyrosine kinases regulate cellular responses to many external signals and are important drug discovery targets for cancer and infectious diseases. While many assays exist for the assessment of kinase activity in vitro, methods that report changes in tyrosine kinase activity in single cells have the potential to provide

Microtubules (MT) are the most rigid component of the cytoskeleton. Nevertheless, they often appear highly curved in the cellular context and the mechanisms governing their overall shape are poorly understood. Currently, in vitro microtubule analysis relies primarily on electron microscopy for its high resolution and Total Internal Reflection

Electrophoresis and Western blot are important tools in protein research for detection and identification of proteins. These traditional techniques separate the proteins based on size and charge differences and identify the proteins by antibody binding. Over the past decade, the emergence of single-molecule techniques has shown great potential in

The molecular mechanisms of P-glycoprotein (P-gp; also known as MDR1 or ABCB1) have been mainly investigated using artificial membranes such as lipid-detergent mixed micelles, artificial lipid bilayers, and membrane vesicles derived from cultured cells. Although these in vitro experiments help illustrate details about the molecular mechanisms of

The α-β tubulin heterodimer undergoes subtle conformational changes during microtubule assembly. These can be modulated by external factors, whose effects on microtubule structure can be characterized on 2D views obtained by cryo-electron microscopy. Analysis of microtubule images is facilitated if they are straight enough to interpret