Achievement

COSI-IGERT participants at the University of Colorado Boulder - JILA and Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments - introduced a new methodology that allows light-driven dynamics to be studied at the ensemble level over six orders of magnitude in time (microsecond to second timescales). This methodology allowed them to study in vivo ensemble assays for measuring dark-state conversion and irreversible photobleaching of fluorescent proteins under continuous and pulsed illumination. This kind of studies may result in better understanding of the dynamics of fluorescent markers, and the design of newer fluorophores with improved characteristics. These discoveries appeared in the Biophysics Journal.