SuperC-Trap
The world’s first instrument capable of obtaining super-resolved images of fluorescently labeled proteins on DNA
LUMICKS founders, Prof. Peterman and Prof. Wuite pioneered the world’s first Super-resolution Correlative Tweezers – Fluorescence Microscope (SR-CTFM), and this technology is now becoming commercially available
The LUMICKS SuperC-Trap efficiently integrates STED nanoscopy with high-resolution dual optical tweezers and a state-of-the-art microfluidic flow cell. The instrument enables a simple and fast workflow for bead trapping, DNA tethering, and subsequent DNA manipulation and controlled triggering of biochemical reaction by incubating with different proteins of interest.
The dynamic DNA-protein interactions are visualized at the single-molecule level in real-time, through coincident 1D Super-resolution imaging along the DNA.
Applications
The SuperC-Trap™ SR-CTFM can strongly impact the field of structural biology, where models of protein function require improvement and validation. Current state of the art techniques for protein analysis like XRD, NMR and Cryo-EM have become very powerful in resolving the structure of proteins and protein complexes. Based on the protein structure one can derive models for its function in vivo. The next step is to improve and validate these models through live observation of these processes in real-time at the single-molecule level. SR-CTFM makes this possible for the first time. The super-resolution allows imaging of unprecedented high protein densities on DNA, bridging the idealized in vitro experiment to the in vivo regime.
Key differentiators:
- Live observation of Protein – DNA interaction
- Physiologically relevant conditions;
- DNA suspended in solution
- DNA densely covered with proteins
- Up to 100nM protein concentrations
- Room temperature
- Fast (200Hz) imaging at Super-resolution: 50nm resolution
- Ultimate protein localization accuracy: <5nm
- Best in class force resolution: <0.2 pN @ 100 Hz on 48kb DNA
SR-CTFM was presented to the scientific community in a 2013 Nature Methods cover article, and demonstrates how technological development and integration enable observation of DNA-protein interactions at the single-molecule level under physiologically relevant conditions. Featuring fluorescence imaging with 50-nm resolution, the SuperC-Trap is the first instrument that surpasses the optical diffraction limit in the context of fluorescent probes bound to optically manipulated DNA suspended in solution.
