Single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and protein folding

One of the grand challenges in biophysical science is to understand how a disordered polypeptide chain folds into the unique three-dimensional structure that performs a biological function — the so-called protein folding problem. Progress in this area, as well as in the study of many other complex biomolecular processes, has come from the application of single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy. I will describe how Förster resonance energy transfer and a photon-by-photon analysis of single molecule fluorescence trajectories can be used to gain a deeper understanding of how proteins fold.