Structural studies of nucleic acids: complexes with proteins and ligands

• Interactions of the tumor-suppressor protein p53 with DNA

• Binding of p53 (wild-type and the DNA-binding core domain) with supercoiled closed circular plasmid DNA and linear fragments

• Binding of p53 (wild-type and the DNA-binding core domain) with supercoiled closed circular plasmid DNA and linear fragments

• Parallel-stranded (ps) DNA: sequence-specific helical parameters and properties

• Ligand-DNA: binding of actionomycin to single-stranded DNA

Signal transduction of eukaryotic cells

• Receptor tyrosine kinase activation and internalization, downstream signaling (MAPK cascasde), and the meachnism of antibody-based tumor therapy

• Further development of Fluorescence Energy Transfer (FRET) as a probe of protein-protein interactions in the cell, application of the quantitative miscroscope

• Fusions of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) with the EGF receptor and erB2 (oncogene involved in most breast tumors)

Optical and scanning-probe microscopy

• Scanning force microscope (SFM)

• Near-field optical microscope (SNOM)

• Fluorescence correlation microscope (FCM)

• Programmable array microscope (PAM)