TechWatch series:
Adding DYNAMICS to structural biology
Easy-to-Use Single-Molecule Fluorescence Tools to Bring Static Biomolecular Models to Life
SEE YOUR FAVOURITE PROTEIN COMPLEXES IN ACTION!
Structural biology methods like cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography are enormously powerful tools to unravel biomolecular mechanisms of action. More recently, Artificial Intelligence and other computational approaches have opened new frontiers in protein design and structure determination. However, due to the largely static nature of their outputs, both types of approaches are typically unable to provide insights into the precise dynamics of biomolecular complexes, such as temporal conformational changes, binding kinetics and diffusion properties. Dynamic single-molecule techniques, such as Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (smFRET) and Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) fill this gap. By revealing transient states and heterogeneous populations in real time, these approaches bridge the gap between high-resolution structures and functional dynamics, enabling a comprehensive understanding of biomolecular mechanisms. Unfortunately, so far, these methods have been inaccessible to the broader life science and drug development community.
Here, we introduce the EI-FLEX Pro, a novel benchtop instrument designed for seamless smFRET and FCS measurements, democratizing access to these powerful techniques. Its compact, user-friendly design requires minimal setup and no specialized expertise, allowing researchers in standard laboratory environments to perform experiments effortlessly, at high throughput. Ease-of-use is achieved through integrated calibration and correction routines and automated sample handling, supporting rapid screening of multiwell plates as well as individual samples with sub-millisecond and sub-nm spatio-temporal resolution and single molecule sensitivity. Data analysis is streamlined via intuitive software featuring automated fitting algorithms, real-time visualization, and exportable reports, minimizing post-processing time and errors.
The EI-FLEX empowers structural biologists, biochemists and drug developers to finally incorporate dynamic data on the level of individual biomolecular complexes into their workflows. It enables them to truly unravel and quantify drug-target interactions, complex formation and biomolecular conformational changes at unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. By lowering barriers to entry, it propels the field toward faster, more complete discoveries in complex biomolecular systems. In this seminar, we will discuss the scientific and technical background, as well as various applications of our technology, such as: the conformational dynamics of proteins, DNA and RNA, quantification of protein-DNA and protein-RNA interactions as well as nanoparticle and vesicle characterization directly in solution.
Lecture is organized by Core facility Biomolecular Interactions and Crystallography in collaboration with Exciting Instruments.
After the seminar, you are kindly invited to discuss with us how these single molecule approaches can complement your own projects. We are happy to schedule 1:1 meetings throughout the day. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Roman Renger (roman.renger@excitinginstruments.com) to reserve your slot.
How to get here:
CEITEC Masaryk University is located at Kamenice 753/5, Brno - Bohunice, 625 00, Czech Republic
From the Main train station, take tram 8 and get off at the final stop “Nemocnice Bohunice” (University Hospital)
The Masaryk University building will be directly in front of you. After entering the building, turn left on the staircase and follow the signs along the corridor. The lectures will be held in building E35 (room 2.11)
