Faculty of Physics cordially invites you to the next MTPR Seminar. This time the lecture on "Ultrafast structural dynamics studies of molecular and biomolecular systems", by Prof. Henrike M. Müller-Werkmeister from the University of Potsdam, Germany, is scheduled to be held on November 22, 2023, at 1 p.m.
The event takes place online via Microsoft Teams Platform.
Abstract
Observing molecular dynamics experimentally with the highest spatial and temporal resolution combined is one of the biggest challenges in chemistry and biochemistry. Understanding and resolving structure-dynamics relationships will help to further understand complex molecular functions. Few experimental methods allow to resolution of multiscale dynamics and structural information in the same experiment from femtoseconds onwards.
2D-IR spectroscopy (ultrafast multidimensional infrared spectroscopy), can be performed as a table-top experiment in solution state and is the key methodology in the laser lab in Potsdam. Inhomogeneities of molecular ensembles are accessible and can be resolved by 2D-IR, similarly, energy transport pathways become directly accessible on the relevant timescale. I will introduce the basics of 2D-IR and review progress on studies of biomolecular dynamics (proteins and carbohydrates [1]).
While 2D-IR is an extremely powerful method to investigate molecular dynamics in solution, it doesn’t provide full atomic resolution. Ultrafast time-resolved diffraction, either using X-rays at XFELs and synchrotrons, is now well established for protein dynamics [2,3] and under development as a single-shot serial experiment for materials, and UED – ultrafast electron diffraction [4], primarily on materials, give access to fully resolved dynamic structures at room temperature
[1] J. Chem. Phys. 158, 145101, 2023
[2] Nat. Methods, Vol. 15, pp. 907-904(11), 2018
[3] Science 365 (6458), 1167-1170, 2019
[4] Nat. Comm., 11 (1), 2020
More information about the seminar is available here.