Home > Our People > Academic Staff

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/Publication.htm

2007

Wang, LP, P SHAO, J A Van Kan, A M KAMBIZ, A A Bettiol, XT PAN, T Wohland and F Watt, "Fabrication of nanofluidic devices utilizing proton beam writing and thermal bonding techniques". Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research. Section B, Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 260, no. 1: 450-454 (2007).

Saw, CLL, C D O Olivio, T Wohland, CY Fu, KW Kho, KC Soo and PW S Heng, "Effects of N-Methyl Pyrrolidone on the Uptake of Hypericin in Human Bladder Carcinoma and Co-staining with DAPI Investigated by Confocal Microscopy". Technology of Cancer Research and Treatment, 6(5), p.383-394 (2007).

Maung*, N L, T Wohland and C S Hsu, "Enamel Diffusion Modulated by Er:YAG Laser (Part 2: Organic Matrix)", Journal of Dentistry, (35), 794-799 (2007).

Maung*, N L, T Wohland and C S Hsu, "Enamel Diffusion Modulated by Er:YAG Laser (Part I:FRAP)", Journal of Dentistry, (35), 787-793 (2007).

L.C. Hwang, and T Wohland. "Recent Advances in Fluorescence Cross correlation Spectroscopy". Cell Biochem Biophys 49(1), 1-13 (2007).

X. Pan, W. Foo, W. Lim, M. Fok, P. Liu, H. Yu, I.N. Maruyama, T. Wohland. A multifunctional fluorescence correlation microscope for intracellular and microfluidic measurements. Rev. Sci. Instr., (78): 053711 (2007).

B. Kannan, G. Lin , S. Thankiah, S. Ahmed, I.N. Maruyama, and T. Wohland. Spatially Resolved Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Correlation Microscopy Using an Electron Multiplying Charge-Coupled Device Camera. Anal. Chem., (79) 4463-4470 (2007).

W. Kreyling, T Wohland, "Bioimaging Defence Functions of the Respiratory Tract". Innovation, 7, no. 1 (Bioimaging): 52-53 (2007).

T. Wohland, B. Kannan, X Pan and LC Hwang, "Image Guided Spectroscopy". Innovation, 7, no. 1 (Bioimaging): 14-15 (2007).

P. Liu., T. Sudhaharan, R.M.L. Koh, L.C. Hwang, S. Ahmed, I.N. Maruyama, and T. Wohland. Investigation of the dimerization of proteins from the epidermal growth factor receptor family by single wavelength fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy. Biophys. J. (93): 684-698 (2007).

Y.N. Du , R.B. Han, S.S. Ng, J. Ni, W.X. Sun, T. Wohland, S.H. Ong, L.L. Kuleshova and H. Yu. Identification and characterization of a novel pre-spheroid hepatocyte monolayer. Tissue Engineering, 13 (7): 1455-1468 (2007).

X. Pan, H. Yu, X. Shi, V. Korzh, T. Wohland, Characterization of flow direction in microchannels and zebrafish blood vessels by scanning fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, J. of Biomed. Opt., 12 (2007): 014034.

2006

X. Pan,C. Aw, Y. Du,H. Yu, T. Wohland,Characterization of poly(acrylic acid) diffusion dynamics on the grafted surface of 5poly(ethylene terephthalate) films by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, Biophys. Rev. Let., Vol. 1, No. 4 (2006) 433-441.

P. Li, M. Sun, T. Wohland, D. Yang, B. Ho, and J.L. Ding, Molecular Mechanisms that Govern the Specificity of Sushi Peptides forGram-Negative Bacterial Membrane Lipids, Biochemistry 45, 10554-10562 (2006).

B. Kannan, J.Y. Har, P. Liu, I. Maruyama, J.L. Ding, T. Wohland, EMCCD-camera based fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, Anal. Chem., 78(10):3444-51 (2006).

P. Li, M. Sun, T. Wohland, B. Ho and J.L. Ding, The molecular mechanism of interaction between Sushi peptide and Pseudomonas endotoxin, Cell. Mol. Imm., Vol 3, Issue 1, 21-28 (2006).

L.C. Hwang, M. Gosch, T. Lasser, T. Wohland, Simultaneous multicolor fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy to detect higher order molecular interactions using single wavelength laser excitation, Biophys. J., 91: 715-727 (2006).

L.C. Hwang, M. Leutenegger, M. Gosch, T. Lasser, P. Rigler, W. Meier, T. Wohland, Prism-based multicolor fluorescence correlation Spectrometer, Optics Letters, 31 (9), 1310-1312 (2006).

L. Yu, M. Tan, B. Ho, J.L. Ding, T. Wohland, Determination of critical micelle concentrations and aggregation numbers by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy: Aggregation of a lipopolysaccharide, Analytica Chimica Acta, 556 (1): 216-225 (2006).