Nominated as an outstanding PhD thesis by the University of Oxford, UK

Bridges the gaps between multiple disciplines

Provides unique insights into fundamental questions concerning molecular motors, membrane biophysics, single protein detection, condensed matter physics, and synthetic chemistry

Presents detailed information on how to design, build and implement an interferometric scattering microscope, including hardware interfacing and the various stages of data processing

Autorentext

Jaime Ortega-Arroyo is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Romain Quidant's plasmon nano-optics group at the ICFO (Institute of Photonic Sciences) in Barcelona, Spain. His current research focuses on combining ultrasensitive light microscopy with plasmon-assisted optofluidics. He received his BSc in Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada in 2010, and his PhD in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry from the University of Oxford, UK in 2015, under the guidance of Phillip Kukura.

Klappentext

This thesis offers a unique guide to the development and application of ultrasensitive optical microscopy based on light scattering. Divided into eight chapters, it covers an impressive range of scientific fields, from basic optical physics to molecular biology and synthetic organic chemistry. Especially the detailed information provided on how to design, build and implement an interferometric scattering microscope, as well as the descriptions of all instrumentation, hardware interfacing and image processing necessary to achieve the highest levels of performance, will be of interest to researchers now entering the field.

Inhalt
Introduction.- Non-fluorescent single-molecule approaches to optical microscopy.- Experimental Methods.- Anomalous diffusion due to interleaflet coupling and molecular pinning.- Structural dynamics of myiosin 5a.- All optical label-free detection, imaging and tracking of single proteins.- Single-molecule chemical dynamics: direct observation of physical autocatalysis.- Outlook.