Temperature-jump spectroscopy is a mainstay of modern biophysical and bioanalytical research.  By rapidly driving a system out of equilibrium with step changes in temperature, chemical reactions and dynamics are probed with a variety of techniques.  For example, diffraction limited Q-switched lasers are used to heat femtoliter volumes with short pulses of intense laser radiation.  These pulsed laser systems can heat solutions on the picosecond scale, but relaxation rates can be on the order of microseconds to milliseconds, and the method is further limited by the random nature of the switch.  Here, we take advantage of the highly localized surface plasmon heating of gold nanoparticles, to rapidly alter the temperature of solution directly adjacent to the particle.  By tethering a nanoparticle to a single protein nanopore, the temperature can be altered at will within the yoctoliter volume of the pore, which acts as a probe for changes to both the temperature and physical properties of individual molecules.  This measurement capability enables the study of single molecule kinetics and thermodynamics.

Modification of protein nanopores with gold nanoparticles for single molecule temperature control

246th National Meeting (2013)

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