Dr. Daniel Chiu

University of Washington

September 22nd, 2017 – Fall Seminar

Time and Location: Noon in Meyerhoff Chemistry, Room 120

Host: Dr. Minjoung Kyoung

Semiconducting Polymer Dots for Single-Molecule Studies of Synaptic Vesicles

Abstract: Synaptic vesicle plays a central role in neurotransmission. It is also perhaps the smallest organelle present in the cell, with a diameter of ~40nm, which makes it amendable to high-resolution single-particle and single-molecule studies. This talk will describe some of the surprising findings we made over the years about synaptic vesicles. Because single-molecule experiments depend critically on the availability of a suitable and bright probe, I will describe a new class of fluorescent nanomaterial we have developed to facilitate single-molecule studies, fluorescence assays, and super-resolution imaging.