Shall we dance? Imaging, manipulating, and controlling the dynamics of single molecules with light

Ever since the discovery of a microscope, the imaging of a single molecule was always presented as one of the greatest challenges for scientists. Fifty years ago, Schrodinger wrote that he does not believe that it will be ever conceivable. Nowadays, due to numerous technical improvements, it becomes possible to watch the motion of individual single molecules by monitoring in real-time their position with nanometer precision and measuring forces generated by molecules with piconewton accuracy. This allows Physics to step into a world of Biology by introducing a quantitative analytical approach to long-standing problems.

In my talk I will introduce some basic biology and physics necessary for understanding the physics of biological molecular motors, and show how single-molecule spectroscopy can minimize some of the mysteries in this field, while leading to a better understanding of how the motion of those molecules can be initiated by variation of physical, rather than biochemical, parameters.