The Stanford Photonics Research Center

Research in the Block lab marries aspects of physics and biology to study the properties of proteins or nucleic acids at the level of single macromolecules and molecular complexes. Experimental tools include laser-based optical traps (“optical tweezers”) and a variety of state-of-the-art fluorescence techniques, in conjunction with custom-built instrumentation for the nanometer-level detection of displacements and piconewton-level detection of forces. Current experimental work in the lab focuses on measuring the physical properties of biological motors and key polymerase enzymes. The group has recently invented a new method for single molecule sequencing of nucleic acid using laser trapping