SBS Research Pillar Key Visual for Structural and Cell Biology Mobile Version

Profile Photo of SBS Faculty Yang Tianjin

Asst. Prof. Yang, Tianjin

Our research combines technology development with fundamental biological inquiry. We use single-molecule spectroscopy to investigate the interactions and dynamics of biomolecules, with a particular focus on how molecular interactions and structural transitions regulate biological function. We are especially interested in intrinsically disordered proteins, whose conformational flexibility plays essential roles in signaling and regulation but also makes them difficult to characterize using conventional ensemble approaches. To enable these studies, we develop microfluidic, optofluidic, and single-molecule spectroscopy methods that capture fast, transient molecular processes with high temporal resolution.

Research Areas

Single-molecule spectroscopy, intrinsically disordered proteins, microfluidics, chromatin dynamics, biomolecular condensates

  • Yang, T., Buholzer, K.J., Sottini, A., Cao, X., deMello, A., Nettels, D., and Schuler, B. "Rapid droplet-based mixing for single-molecule spectroscopy." Nature Methods 20 (2023): 1479–1482. (*Co-corresponding author) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-023-01995-9
  • Nettels, D., Galvanetto, N., Ivanović, M.T., Nüesch, M.F., Yang, T., and Schuler, B. "Single-molecule FRET for probing nanoscale biomolecular dynamics." Nature Reviews Physics 6 (2024): 587–605. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-024-00748-7
  • Yang, T., Villois, A., Kunka, A., Grigolato, F., Arosio, P., Prokop, Z., deMello, A., and Stavrakis, S. "Droplet-based microfluidic temperature-jump platform for the rapid assessment of biomolecular kinetics." Analytical Chemistry 94 (2022): 16675–16684. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c03009
  • Yang, T., Stavrakis, S., and deMello, A. "A high-sensitivity, integrated absorbance and fluorescence detection scheme for probing picoliter-volume droplets in segmented flows." Analytical Chemistry 89 (2017): 12880–12887. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.7b03526