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Michelle D Wang

Professor/LASSP

Primary Research Areas

  • biological physics
  • experimental condensed-matter physics

Graduate Fields

Research Focus

Professor Michelle Wang's research interests compromises:

  • single molecule mechanical manipulations of biological molecules
  • high-resolution optical trapping and detection
  • single molecule fluorescence imaging and detection
  • nanofabrication
  • molecular motor mechanisms
  • biopolymer kinetics and dynamics
  • protein-DNA interactions (especially those involved in gene expression)
  • genomics
  • modeling of diffusion, kinetics, and dynamics of biomolecules

Educational Background

  • B.S., Physics, Nanjing University. 1985
  • M.S, Physics, University of Southern Mississippi, 1998
  • Ph.D. student, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1985-86, Ph.D., Biophysics, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 1993
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Biophysics, Princeton University, 1994-97

Research Grants

  • SINGLE MOLECULE STUDIES OF NUCLEOSOME AND TRANSCRIPTION
  • MECHAN-CHEMICAL KINECTICS AND MECHANISMS OF TRANSCRIPTION
  • TORSIONAL REGULATION OF TRANSCRIPTION

Selected Publications

PubMed Listings

 

2008 Abrupt Buckling Transition Observed during the Plectoneme Formation of Individual DNA Molecules.
S. Forth, C. Deufel, M.Y. Sheinin, B. Daniels, J.P. Sethna, and M.D. Wang.
Physical Review Letters 100:148301 (2008) (Full Text PDF).

Kinetic modeling of transcription elongation.
L. Bai, A. Shundrovsky, and M.D. Wang.
In "RNA polymerases as molecular motors" by the Royal Society of Chemistry in press (2008).

Single molecule studies of RNA polymerase transcription.
A. Shundrovsky, L. Bai, T.J. Santangelo, and M.D. Wang.
In "Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium EcoSal: Cellular and Molecular Biology", eds. I. Artsitmovitch (2008).

2007 Single molecule studies reveal dynamics of DNA unwinding by the ring-shaped T7 helicase.
D.S. Johnson, L. Bai, B.Y. Smith, S.S. Patel, and M.D. Wang.
Cell 129:1299-1309 (2007) (Full Text PDF).



Nanofabricated quartz cylinders for angular optical trapping: torque detection during DNA supercoiling.
C. Deufel, S. Forth, C.R. Simmons, S. Dejgosha, and M.D. Wang.
Nature Methods 4:223-5 (2007) (Full Text PDF).

Mechano-chemical kinetics of transcription elongation.
L. Bai, R.M. Fulbright, & M.D. Wang.
Physical Review Letters 98:068103 (2007) (Full Text PDF).

2006 Probing SWI/SNF remodeling of the nucleosome by unzipping single DNA molecules.
A. Shundrovsky, C. L. Smith, J.T. Lis, C.L. Peterson, and M.D. Wang.
Nature Structural and Molecular Biology 13:549-54 (2006) (Full Text PDF).

Single-molecule analysis of RNA polymerase transcription.
L. Bai, T.J. Santangelo, and M.D. Wang.
Annual Review of Biophysics and Biomolecular Structure 35:343�60 (2006) (Full Text PDF).

Detection of forces and displacements along the axial direction in an optical trap.
C. Deufel and M.D. Wang.
Biophysical Journal 90:657-67 (2006) (Full Text PDF).

2005 Detection of high affinity mismatch binding and sliding clamp modes for the MSH2-MSH6 mismatch recognition complex by single-molecule unzipping force analysis.
J. Jiang, L. Bai, J. Surtees, Z. Gemici, M.D. Wang, and E. Alani.
Molecular Cell 20:771-81 (2005) (Full Text PDF).

Functional hydrogel surfaces: binding kinesin-based molecular motor proteins to selected patterned sites.
T. Yu, Q. Wang, D.S. Johnson, M.D. Wang, and C.K. Ober.
Advanced Functional Materials 15: 1303-1309 (2005) (Full Text PDF).

Specific contributions of histone tails and their acetylation to the mechanical stability of nucleosomes.
B. Brower-Toland, D.A. Wacker, R.M. Fulbright, J.T. Lis, W.L. Kraus, and M.D. Wang.
Journal of Molecular Biology 346:135-146 (2005) (Full Text PDF).

2004 A single molecule technique to study sequence-dependent transcription pausing.
A. Shundrovsky, T.J. Santangelo, J.W. Roberts, and M.D. Wang.
Biophysical Journal 87:3945-53 (2004) (Full Text PDF).

Sequence-dependent kinetic model for RNA polymerase elongation.
L. Bai, A. Shundrovsky, and M.D. Wang.
Journal of Molecular Biology 344:335-349 (2004) (Full Text PDF).

The molecular mechanism of transcription inhibition by Microcin J25.
K. Adelman, J. Yuzenkova, A. La Porta, J.T. Lis, S. Brukhov, M.D. Wang, and K.V. Severinov.
Molecular Cell 14:753-762 (2004) (Full Text PDF).

Optical torque wrench: angular trapping, rotation and torque detection using quartz microparticles.
A. La Porta and M.D. Wang.
Physical Review Letters 92:190801 (2004) (Full Text PDF).

Twisty Tweezers - Physical Review Focus Article on the Angular Optical Trap


Use of optical trapping techniques to study single nucleosome dynamics.
B. Brower-Toland, and M.D. Wang.
Methods in Enzymology: Chromatin and Chromatin Remodeling Enzymes 376:62-72 (2004). (Full Text PDF).

2003 Dynamic force spectroscopy of protein-DNA interactions by unzipping DNA double helix.
S.J. Koch, and M.D. Wang.
Physical Review Letters 91:028103 (2003) (Full Text PDF).

Biophysicists 'unzip' DNA technique that could aid drug development