ESPCI web site
Probing proteins in small volumes
This talk outlines our efforts on exploring experimental strategies to provide a new window into protein self-assembly that are enabled by operation in small volumes. We have shown that microconfinement achieved through droplet microfluidics allows the isolation of single nucleation events in protein aggregation and thus to study a rare event as single molecule resolution. Using this strategy we have also been able to develop an understanding of how aberrant misfolded protein states are transmitted from one molecule to another through time and space. More recently we have exploited measurements of mass transport through fluid streams under laminar flow conditions to generate a platform for probing protein-protein interactions under fully native conditions.