Maryam Kamalipourazad
Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Title: Structural and molecular characterization of biochemical interactions thorough microscopic examinations
Biography
Biography: Maryam Kamalipourazad
Abstract
Biochemical interactions result in various nanostructures in both intra and extracellular environments. Design of nanostructures in vitro and study of biochemical assemblies in vivo need an understanding of their formation mechanisms and their structural characteristics. Diphenylalanine self-assembly in a synthetic media and lipid aggregation inside algal cells are two examples of the biochemical interactions. Microscopic techniques give us the capability to predict the behavior of these self-assembled nanostructures and to identify their characteristics in different media.
The kinetics of self-assembly can be well investigated by online monitoring the organization phenomena. The dissolution process of a given nanostructure can also be monitored by observing the solvation phenomena so as to find the relevant factors which would influence the dissolution process. For example, different solvents would dissolve nanostructures in a chain type reaction or in a power law nucleation with consequent interface advance. Dissolution of diphenylalanine nanostructures in water and in methanol are instances of these reaction types, respectively, Figure 1.
The size and shape characteristics of the nanostructures are strongly influenced by the surrounding environment. Electron microscopy techniques provide us with the information on crystal habit modification. For example, the morphological evolution of diphenylalanine nanostructures makes possible the identification of ion types in the solution of the dipeptide.
In addition, staining of assembled biochemicals and their cellular localization are of the other activities carried out in our investigations. Monitoring the aggregation of lipids and their location in living cells using fluorescent dyes e.g., Nile red, can be mentioned as an example, Figure 2. This would help us to implement correct action for cell treatment.