Student Hosted Colloquia: Professor Wesley Wong, Harvard University
Credit: Wyss Institute
About the Seminar
Mechanical Force in Nanoscale Biology: From Hemostasis to Single-molecule Centrifugation
Mechanical force plays a critical role in regulating many aspects of biological function and structure, particularly at the nanoscale. My research group develops and applies methods in single-molecule manipulation to understand the force-dependent dynamics of biological interactions. I will present some methods that we are developing, including massively parallel single-molecule force measurements using centrifugal force, and nanoscale devices built using DNA origami, and demonstrate how these approaches can bring new insights into biological processes such as blood clotting and hearing.
About the Speaker
Wesley is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School in the Departments of Biological Chemistry & Molecular Pharmacology and Pediatrics and is an Investigator at the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. Broadly, he is interested in understanding the physical basis behind how biological systems work at the nanoscale, with a focus on the role of mechanical force. To accomplish this, his group develops and applies novel methods in single-molecule manipulation and detection, combining approaches from a variety of disciplines, including physics, molecular biology, chemistry, and engineering.
Dr. Wong received his Ph.D. in Physics at Harvard University. Following this, he was appointed as a Rowland Junior Fellow at the Rowland Institute at Harvard University, where he was the Principal Investigator of the Single-molecule Force Studies Group. Current research projects include single-molecule studies of the mechanical regulation of hemostasis, and the development of “single-molecule centrifugation,” a novel approach that enables massively parallel single-molecule force measurements to be made in a simple and inexpensive way.