tjha@uiuc.edu
133 Loomis Lab
Office: (217) 265-0717
Lab: (217) 244-0444
Fax: (217) 244-6819
Mail to:
Department of Physics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1110 W Green St
Urbana, IL 61801
Taekjip Ha
Professor of Physics and Biophysics
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Affiliate, Department of Biochemistry
Education
B.S. 1990 Seoul Nat'l. University
Ph.D. 1996 Univ. of California, Berkeley
Postdoc. 1998-2000 Stanford University
Developing and using single-molecule fluorescence microscopy and nano-mechanical manipulation tools for molecular biophysics research
We are interested in using physical concepts and experimental techniques to study fundamental questions in molecular biology. Our main experimental tool is single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy, supported by nano-mechanical tools such as magnetic and optical tweezers. The biological systems under study include helicases that unzip DNA, DNA recombination intermediate called Holliday junction and its associated enzymes, folding and catalysis of ribozymes, DNA replication machinery, chromatin remodeling complexes, and membrane-binding proteins.
Representative Publications
P. V. Cornish and T. Ha, "A survey of single molecule techniques in chemical biology," ACS Chemical Biology 2(1), 53-61 (2007).
R. Roy, A. Kozlov, T. M. Lohman and T. Ha, "Dynamic structural rearrangements between DNA binding modes of E. coli SSB protein," J. Mol. Biol. 369, 1244-1257 (2007).
P. S. Shirude, B. Okumus, L. Ying, T. Ha and S. Balasubramanian, "Single Molecule Conformational Analysis of G-Quadruplex Formation in the Promoter DNA Duplex of the Proto-Oncogene C-kit," JACS 129, 7484-7485 (2007).
T. Ha, "Need for speed: Mechanical regulation of a replicative helicase," Cell 129, 1249-1250 (2007).
S. Myong, M. M. Bruno, A. M. Pyle and T. Ha, "Spring-loaded mechanism of DNA unwinding by HCV NS3 helicase," Science 317, 513-516 (2007).
I. Rasnik, S. A. McKinney, and T. Ha, "Non-blinking and Long-lasting Single Molecule Fluorescence Imaging," Nature Methods 3, 891-893 (2006)
C. Joo, S. A McKinney, M. Nakamura, I. Rasnik, S. Myong, and T. Ha, "Real Time Observation of RecA Filament Dynamics with Single Monomer Resolution," Cell 126, 515-527 (2006) [Full Article]
C. Buranachai, S. A. McKinney, and T. Ha, "Single Molecule Nanometronome", Nano Letters 102, 18938-18943 (2006)
S. Myong, I. Rasnik, C. Joo, T. M. Lohman, and T. Ha, "Repetitive Shuttling of a Motor Protein on DNA", Nature 437, 1321-1325 (2005) [Full Article]