In a biological cell, enzyme systems play an important role since they direct the metabolism of the cell by controlling all processes to occur at a specific rate. One of the important research fields in cell biology is to investigate the structure and function of complex enzyme systems. However, the dynamic activities of enzymes in a living cell are hard to record. In this project, we probe NADH-Cytochrome b5 Reductase enzyme activity in a living cell by quantized plasmon quenching dips nanospectroscopy, a technology we developed earlier to detect the type of molecules conjugated on the colloid Au nanoparticle via plasmon resonance energy transfer (PRET). The long term goal of the project is to map the spatial and temporal cellular enzyme activities in response to different drugs.
Project end date: 08/14/08