Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 77: Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award Competition

O 77.2: Talk

Thursday, March 21, 2024, 11:00–11:30, HE 101

Analyzing structures of biomolecules at single molecule level by direct imaging on surface — •Kelvin Anggara — MPI for Solid State Research, Stuttgart

Diverse structures of biomolecules in living systems pose challenges for present analytical methods in analyzing their individual molecular structures. Ensemble-averaged measurement on molecules with extensive structural variation leads to loss of structural information for individual molecules. We herein bypass this problem by imaging and analyzing single biomolecules deposited intact on surfaces. Biomolecules were transferred to the gas-phase by electrospray, mass-selected, and soft-landed at a cold single-crystal metal surface, using the Electrospray Ion Beam Deposition (ESIBD) technique. The deposited molecules were subsequently imaged one-at-a-time by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and interpreted by DFT calculations to reveal their individual structures on surface. We successfully applied our approach to glycans (1) as well as lipids and proteins densely decorated with glycans (2), whose analyses remain intractable by current analytical methods. Critical to our success is the choice of surfaces to deactivate diffusion and dissociation of biomolecules on surface, as well as the systematic molecular manipulation by the STM tip to unfold the intact biomolecule on surface. The ESIBD+STM+DFT approach opens a new avenue to access individual structures of any biomolecules that can be electrosprayed and deposited onto a surface. 1. Nature 582, 375-378 (2020). 2. Science 382, 219-223 (2023).

Keywords: Electrospray Ion Beam Deposition; Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy; Biomolecular Structures; Molecular Manipulation; Macromolecules on Surface