Notice Board

The Alberta RNA Research and Training Institute presents its newest member, Dr. Borries Demeler, Canada 150 Research Chair in Biophysics with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Lethbridge. His talk is titled "Probing molecular interactions in the solution phase by multi-wavelength analytical ultracentrifugation".

The ARRTI Speaker Series is open to the public and was established to bring leading researchers to the University of Lethbridge for lectures on a broad range of topics relating to RNA research.

All are welcome! Coffee and snacks will be provided!

The ARRTI Speaker Series is sponsored by the RNA Salon initiative of the RNA Society, with additional support from Lexogen.

Seminar Abstract:
Analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) is a powerful biophysical technique for the characterization of molecules in solution. In recent years, new technology has made AUC an even more versatile instrument. In this talk I will discuss a particularly intriguing advance that allows us to add a spectral dimension to the traditional hydrodynamic detection of sedimenting particles. Using several examples from biology, I will demonstrate how this advance has wide reaching implications for the study of complex mixtures and solute interactions, with applications in protein-nucleic acid complexes, heme proteins, and quantum dot nanoparticle systems, and promises to revolutionize the field of analytical ultracentrifugation. I will also discuss the methodology and analysis approaches used to exploit the new hardware advances for studying macromolecular interactions. I will also spend a few minutes describing the goals and activities of the Northwest Biophysics Consortium.