February Fourier Talks 2013

In the last decade, the abundant availability of computational resources has allowed for significant improvements in the interpretation of data in traditional disciplines of physical biochemistry. One example is sedimentation velocity analytical ultracentrifugation (SV), a biophysical technique where one observes the temporal evolution of spatial concentration gradients of macromolecules in solution after the application of a centrifugal field. Approaches often applied in optical image analysis for the deconvolution of the point-spread function can be used in SV to distinguish the migration due to diffusion from that arising due to sedimentation, which provides a relatively high hydrodynamic size-resolution of proteins and their complexes. In this talk, we discuss different regularization approaches and experimental techniques to further enhance the experimental information. In particular, this includes the simultaneous acquisition of experimental data at different optical signals, which allows us to determine the composition of protein complexes. We will present examples for how this technique can help to elucidate mechanisms of signal transduction in molecular immunology.