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Life depends on countless molecular machines working inside every cell. Proteins repair damaged DNA, copy genetic information, generate energy, transport materials, build cellular structures, and carry out the chemical reactions that keep us alive. Yet these machines are extraordinarily small—millions could fit across the head of a pin—and many of their movements happen in millionths or even billionths of a second. How can we possibly see what they are doing?
In this lecture, I will explore how scientists have learned to make this invisible molecular world visible. We will look at some of the remarkable tools that allow us to determine the three-dimensional shapes of biological molecules and capture them at different moments as they work. Much like assembling individual frames of a movie, these molecular snapshots can reveal how tiny machines move, interact, and carry out their jobs.
Using examples from our own research, I will show how we can watch molecules recognize one another, use energy, change shape, and work together. What emerges is a very different picture from the fixed molecules we often see in textbooks. The molecules of life are constantly moving. Their motions and interactions are fundamental to how they work. Along the way, we will explore techniques that allow scientists to investigate a world far too small to see with our eyes—or even with an ordinary microscope.
Ultimately, the goal is not simply to discover what molecules look like, but to understand how they work. Seeing life at this scale can help us understand how healthy cells function, what goes wrong in disease, and how this knowledge can help us develop new medicines.
Come see the invisible and discover the remarkable molecular machines at work inside every living cell. -David Jeruzalmi |
