(250c) “Cinematography” at the Nanoscale, from Colloidal Crystallization to Protein Transformation

I will discuss my group’s recent progress on applying low-dose liquid-phase TEM to synthetic and biological colloidal systems. In the first system, we directly image the otherwise elusive crystallization pathways of nanosized colloids into superlattices, where the discreteness and multi-scale coupling effects complicate the free energy landscape and the application forms of the final superlattices. We find that there exist similarities to the prevalent model system of micron-sized colloids, such as a non-classical two-step crystallization pathway, and an agreement with the capillary wave theory. But there are also differences, in particular, a universal layer-by-layer growth mode that we observe consistently for diverse nanoparticle shapes. Single particle tracking, trajectory analysis, and simulations combined unravel the energetic and kinetic features rendering this crystal growth mode possible and universal at the unexplored nanoscale, enabling advanced crystal engineering. In the second system, we sandwich and capture moving membrane proteins in their native lipid and liquid environment at nm resolution. The proteins exhibit real-time “fingering” fluctuations, which we attribute to dynamic rearrangement of lipid molecules wrapping the proteins. The conformational coordinates of the proteins during the transformation obtained from the real-space movies are used as inputs in our molecular dynamics simulations, to verify the driving force underpinning the function-relevant fluctuation dynamics. This platform invites an emergent theme of structural biophysics as we foresee.