Carlos Bustamante, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Chair of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, presents Carnegie Mellon's 2014 Buhl Lecture in Theoretical Physics. The lecture was held March 25, 2014.
Within all living cells is a network of complex molecular machines that carry out the functions essential for survival. Understanding these physical forces is key to understanding how cells work. Bustamante has developed novel methods that use magnetic beads, atomic force microscopes and laser tweezers to measure and manipulate the forces within DNA and other macromolecules.
In this lecture, Bustamante discusses how forces can impact molecular behavior and the methods his lab uses to study the forces generated during molecular interactions.
