Time:10:00 am, 17th September, 2020

Speaker: Dr. Huan Wang, Center for Soft and Living Matter, Institute for Basic Science

Abstract:

I will discuss observation of chemical to mechanical energy conversion from “active” molecular systems and new questions that arise when we apply techniques conventionally not used for studying chemical reactions. In the first case, we find from field gradient NMR measurements, microfluidics and spectroscopy that common chemical reactions produce mechanical perturbation to its surrounding fluid beyond thermally-induced Brownian motion. In the second case, inspecting biomacromolecular reaction at a single-molecule level, single molecule assembly process of DNA hybridization and enzymatic catalysis of DNA binding protein, by using real-time observation electron microscopy imaging in aqueous environment, we observe some anticipated pathways and others that are surprising, during which enhanced mobility in both rotation and translation is observed.

Brief CV of Dr. Huan Wang:

Huan Wang, currently is a tenured Senior Research Fellow at Center for Soft and Living Matter, Institute for Basic Science, Korea. Huan got her bachelor degree in chemistry and Liyun Excellence class from Beijing Normal University in 2009, then obtained Ph. D degree from University of Arizona majoring in Analytical Chemistry under supervision of Prof. Jeanne E. Pemberton in 2015. She then went to do postdoc research with Prof. Steve Granick at her current institution, where she was promoted to Senior researcher in 2017 and then tenured Senior Research Fellow in June 2020. Her research interests lie broadly in active chemical systems, single molecule liquid cell electron microscopy imaging, and dynamics of macromolecules at interfaces.