Nanotubes to monitor enzyme activity

Researchers at the University of California have developed a technique to study in detail and monitor the behaviour of the biological molecules particularly protein which is useful for a host of applications in medicine. For investigating biomolecules implicated in various diseases, for developing novel drugs in the future, researchers are studying to understand complex biological molecules as to how they react with their environment. Proteins activity The enzyme is a very small molecule of size between 5 and 7 nm and is impossible to 'see' in any kind of optical microscope. Proteins fold along their long chains of amino acids and enzymes, in particular, change shape when they bind to substrates because these shape changes are crucial for how the molecule functions. The behaviour of proteins can be monitored to a certain extent, but there is no real way to track an individual protein over a long period of time. New technique The researchers have shown that they are able to obs