Research Bio
Carlos Bustamante is a biophysicist who uses single-molecule approaches to study the mechanics of DNA, RNA, and proteins. He is best know for pioneering optical tweezers experiments that measure the forces driving molecular motors as well as the forces required the study of unfolding and refolding of individual proteins and RNAs. His research has illuminated how polymerases, helicases and ribosomes generate and respond to mechanical forces. Currently, the Bustamante lab is combining high spatial and temporal resolution sing m optical tweezer studies with cryo-electron microscopy and tomography to bridge the gap between function and structure of the systems we study. Bustamante is a professor of MCB, Physics and Chemistry at UC Berkeley, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His contributions have transformed the field of molecular biophysics. His expertise spans single-molecule biophysics, molecular motors, protein folding, and nucleic acid mechanics.Research Expertise and Interest
single-molecule spectroscopy, single molecule biophysics, eukaryotic gene expression, protein folding
In the News
Can Synthetic Polymers Replace the Body’s Natural Proteins?
Bustamante awarded Biophysical Society Honors
Researchers Find that Viral Packaging Motor Rotates DNA and Adapts to Changing Conditions
While a virus, essentially, may be nothing more than a dollop of DNA packed into a protective coating of protein called a capsid, the packaging of that DNA is critical. The molecular motors that drive this DNA packaging process, however, have remained almost as enigmatic as the viruses themselves.
UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab announce Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute
The Kavli Foundation has endowed a new institute at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to explore the basic science of how to capture and channel energy on the molecular or nanoscale and use this information to discover new ways of generating energy for human use.
Carlos Bustamante honored with Vilcek Prize
Carlos Bustamante, a professor of molecular and cell biology and of physics and chemistry, has been awarded the 2012 Vilcek Prize