Recent single-molecule experiments have demonstrated the utility
of Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) in observing
reaction kinetics and conformational dynamics in single RNA, DNA,
and protein molecules. Using photon correlation spectroscopy
techniques borrowed from quantum optics, we have extended the
temporal resolution of these methods to the nanosecond regime. In
this poster, we describe several potential applications of this
technology to the observation of fast, stochastic molecular
dynamics. We propose using these techniques for measuring the
sequence-dependent elasticity of double-stranded DNA and also for
observing stochastic kinetics in DNA branch migration. We are also
interested in the fundamental physics of FRET including studies of
cascaded FRET processes, and FRET at high excitation intensities.
This work is in collaboration with the groups of R. Phillips, E.
Winfree, and S. Quake.
