Single molecule techniques comprise a set of experimental methods that detect, manipulate, and analyze individual biomolecules or molecular complexes, circumventing ensemble averaging and revealing heterogeneity in structure, dynamics, and function. Core modalities include single-molecule fluorescence (e.g., smFRET, TIRF microscopy), optical and magnetic tweezers, atomic force microscopy, and nanopore-based sensing. These techniques enable direct measurement of forces, conformational changes, binding/unbinding events, and reaction pathways with nanometer spatial and millisecond (or better) temporal resolution. They are widely applied to study nucleic acid–protein interactions, molecular motors, enzyme kinetics, folding energy landscapes, and mechanotransduction at the level of individual molecules.
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have implemented an advanced microscopy technique to visualize multiple biomolecules inside the nucleus of a cancer cell simultaneously at incredibly high resolution. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 24, 2026
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All processes such as wound healing, hair growth, and the replacement of old cells with new ones depend on cell division. During this process, chromosomes inside the cell must be evenly divided between two daughter cells. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 10, 2026
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16
Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have built a molecular "leash" to pull directly on a force-sensing protein called Piezo1, and discovered it switches on at about 15 piconewtons, proving that it can ...
Biotechnology
Apr 7, 2026
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7
The way a key cellular motor works at an atomic level has been uncovered by simulations conducted by RIKEN biophysicists. This finding, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides important ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 1, 2026
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9
An international research team led by scientists from Skoltech has developed a method to position molecules on the surface of ultrathin materials with unprecedented precision using molecular DNA self-assembly, enabling the ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 25, 2026
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21
Scientists have created the first microlasers capable of detecting individual molecules and even single atomic ions, a breakthrough that could significantly advance early disease diagnosis and molecular-scale medical testing. ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 25, 2026
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93
Researchers at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and collaborating institutions recently built a generative AI model that can recreate molecular structures from the movement of the molecule's ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 18, 2026
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Proteins, one of the smallest building blocks of life on Earth, hold promise for answering some of biology's biggest questions. Consisting of amino acids strung together into peptide chains, these molecules perform much of ...
Biotechnology
Mar 18, 2026
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29
By placing single-atom-thick adlayers of p-block metals on commonly employed gold electrodes (d-block), a research team at National Taiwan University has successfully quantified the "interfacial hopping integral" between ...
Nanophysics
Mar 13, 2026
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46
Christine Dunham is a leading expert on the ribosome—an elaborate macro-molecular machine that operates like a factory within a cell to manufacture proteins. "The ribosome is really the most fascinating molecule in a cell," ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Mar 11, 2026
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