By looking closely at a single molecule, researchers can learn more about how proteins and cell membranes are organized and how molecules behave in cells. But getting a good image is not as simple as it might sound — the direction the molecule is facing makes a difference.
Alex Nie, who earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from McKelvey Engineering in 2026 while working in the lab of Matthew D. Lew, associate professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, found that polarized light patterns can improve how precisely microscopes measure the orientation of single molecules. Their research was published Aug. 26 in Biomedical Optics Express.
From a molecule's orientation, researchers can learn how molecules are arranged within a larger structure of which they are a part, how they interact with other structures and whether they are moving or wobbling. In other words, the orientation provides researchers with more information about structure, motion and interactions than studying a molecule's position alone.
The technology is so precise that it can view the organization of peptides in amyloid fibers, which are connected to Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and type II diabetes, and it is able to image the structure of biomolecular condensates.
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