Nobel symposium

Steve just returned from the Nobel symposium on "Single Molecule Spectroscopy in Chemistry, Physics, and Biology" held in Stockholm. Unfortunately, there's almost no information online about it, but a lot of the major US players were there, and it was jam packed with talks. I am also told that a number of talks discussed the history of high-resolution imaging, and that I was cited by one researcher as "M. Gordo". That was, of course, back in grad school, when I was 25 pounds heavier.

Nature Methods: All Single Molecule, All The Time

This week's issue of Nature Methods is dedicated to single molecule biophysics. And, to demonstrate what a sordid, incestuous little world we inhabit, here are some of the highlights:

• Super-resolution for a 3D world, a News and Views about Stefan Hell's latest entry into the STED pantheon, isoSTED. By Joshua Shaevitz, former Block-lab member.
• Single-molecule force spectroscopy: optical tweezers, magnetic tweezers and atomic force microscopy, a review by the dashingly handsome Keir Neuman, also a Block lab alumnus, and also also my advanced physics lab TA in college.
• A practical guide to single-molecule FRET, from TJ Ha, with whom I co-authored a paper.

Also, this gigantic review seems to have a ton of information on all the latest techniques, and cites just about everything under the sun, including the paper that TJ and I co-authored on SHRImP. Over all, lots of good stuff there to get the burgeoning single molecule biophysicist started.