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Research Interests

BIOPHYSICAL FLUORESCENCE

The research in my group is directed towards biophysics with an emphasis on biophysical fluorescence. This highly interdisciplinary domain requires the interaction of chemists, physicists, and biologists. Only a concerted effort of these three groups will allow us to tackle the problems in the life sciences. The close proximity of departments of biology, biochemistry, chemistry, and physics at the National University of Singapore on one side and the research institutes (RIs) on the other side, allows us to develop physical and chemical methods for the study of biological questions on one hand and to apply these methods to the frontier in biology on the other hand. Our interests lie accordingly in the different areas that interact freely to advance this research field.

Construction and development of new optical tools. Optical Spectroscopy is one of the most sensitive tools available in the life sciences. Proteins can be studied not only in ensembles but as well on the single molecule level. Besides using well established methods in our group (e.g. Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy, Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer), we also plan to develop new spectroscopy and microscopy tools and new mathematical procedures to study proteins on a single molecule level in vitro and in vivo.

Study of selected proteins and protein complexes on a single molecule level and in living cells. In collaboration with the Department of Biological Sciences, the Department of Microbiology and the RIs we will study the properties of selected proteins and peptides to elucidate their function on a molecular level. At the moment we concentrate on either antimicrobial peptides and their interaction with bacterial membranes, or on the study of transmembrane proteins (G-protein coupled receptors, growth factors) and their structure, function and interactions.

One of the most interesting questions in biology is the relationship between the structure and function of proteins. With the fluorescence tools developed in our group we hope to shed some light on this question by in vitro experiments. In a complementary approach we will study the proteins in living cells because proteins are in many cases very sensitive to their environment and only when studied under physiological conditions can we determine their exact function.

Representative Publications

For full publication record click here:
http://staff.science.nus.edu.sg/~chmwt/publications_by_year.html

2009

P.K. Ang, K.P. Loh, T.Wohland, M. Nesladek, E. Van Hove, "Supported Lipid Bilayer on Nanocrystalline Diamond: Dual optical and field effect Sensor for Membrane Disruption", Adv. Func. Mat. 19(1):109-116 (2009).

L. Yu, L. Guo, J.L. Ding, B, Ho, S.S, Feng, J, Popplewell, M, Swan, T, Wohland, "Interaction of an artificial antimicrobial peptide with lipid membranes", BBA Biomembranes 1788 (2009) 333-344.

J. Liu, C.L.L. Saw, M. Olivo, T. Sudhaharan, S. Ahmed, P.W.S. Heng, T. Wohland, "The study of interaction of hypericin and its pharmaceutical preparation by fluorescence techniques", JBO (in press).
(and February 1, 2009 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research)

X. Pan, X. Shi, V. Korzh, H. Yu, T. Wohland, "Line scan fluorescence correlation spectroscopy for 3D microfluidic flow velocity measurements", JBO Letters (in press). (and in Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research)

T. Sudhaharan, P. Liu, Y.H. Foo1, W. Bu1, K.B. Lim, T. Wohland, S. Ahmed, "Determination of in vivo dissociation constants, KD, of Cdc42-effector complexes in living mammalian cells using single wavelength fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (SW-FCCS)", JBC (in press).

S. Leptihn, J.Y.Har, J. Chen, B. Ho, T. Wohland, J.L. Ding, "Single molecule resolution of the antimicrobial action of quantum dot-labeled sushi peptide on live bacteria", BMC Biology 2009, 7:22.

X. Shi, Y.H. Foo, T. Sudhaharan, S.-W. Chong, V. Korzh, S. Ahmed, T. Wohland, "Determination of dissociation constants in living zebrafish embryos with single wavelength fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy", Biophys. J. (in press).

2008

Yanan Du, Y., Han, R., Wen, F., Ng, S.S., Xia, L., Wohland, T., Leo, H.L., Yu, H,."Synthetic Sandwhich Culture of 3D hepatocyte monolayer", Biomaterials 29 (2008) 290-301.

Guo, L., Har, J.Y., Sankaran, J., Hong, Y., Kannan, B., Wohland, T., "Molecular Diffusion Measurement In Lipid Bilayers Over Wide Concentration Ranges - A Comparative Study" ChemPhysChem 9 (5) 721-28 (2008).

Hebbar, S., Lee,E., Manna, M., Steinert, S., Kumar, G.S., Wenk, M., Wohland, T., and Kraut, R., "A fluorescent peptide probe derived from the Sphingolipid Binding Domain of Ab interacts with specific sphingolipids and neuronal cholesterol-dependent raft domains", J.Lip.Res. 49 (2008) 1077-89.

Ping, L., Ahmed, S., Wohland, T., "The F-techniques: Advances in receptor protein studies", Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol. 19 (5) 181-190 (2008).

Chammika, N B U, S F Chan, H Sureerat, A A Bettiol, T Wohland and F Watt, "Fabrication of integrated channel waveguides in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using proton beam writing (PBW): applications for fluorescence detection in microfluidic channels". Proceedings of Spie - The International Society for Optical Engineering, 6882, no. 1 (2008): 68820D.

L. Yu, J.L. Ding, B. Ho, S.S. Feng, T. Wohland , "Investigation of the Mechanisms of Antimicrobial Peptides Interacting with Membranes by Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy", TOCPJ Vol.1 (2008): 62-79.

Yeon, W C, K Balakrishnan, T Wohland and V Ng, "Colloidal crystals from surface tension assisted self-assembly: A novel matrix for single molecule experiments". Langmuir, 24(21); 12142-12149 (2008).

S. Korzh, X. Pan, M. Garcia-Lecea, C. L. Winata, X., Pan, T. Wohland, V. Korzh and Z. Gong, "Requirement of vasculogenesis and blood circulation in late stages of liver growth in zebrafish". BMC Developmental Biology, 2008, 8:84 (2008).