Recently, tremendous technical developments have made it possible to detect, identify, track, and manipulate single biomolecules in an ambient environment or even in a live cell. Single molecule approaches have changed the way many biological problems are addressed. New knowledge derived from these approaches continues to emerge. The ability of single molecule approaches to avoid ensemble averaging and to capture transient intermediates and heterogeneous behavior renders them particularly powerful in elucidating mechanisms of molecular machineries: what they do, how they work individually, how they work together, and finally, how they work inside live cells.

Measurements on single bio-molecules fall into three categories: optical (fluorescence and nonlinear optical spectroscopy), electrical (e.g. patch clamp technique for ion channels), and mechanical force measurements. Each measurement type allows real time observation of dynamical processes of individual macromolecules. Single molecule manipulation techniques (atomic force microscopy, magnetic and optical tweezers, microfluidics, and bioMEMs devices) provide a way to study molecular machineries and also to control their biological reactions and functions. Single molecule imaging with high spatial resolution (diffraction limited or nanometric) is now making it possible to track individual biomolecules with specific labels, and to follow their biochemical reactions in living cells. Observations of this nature have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of molecular and cell biology.

Single-molecule approaches have resulted in revolutionary changes in many areas of biology, most notably, ion channels and molecular motors. Other emerging areas for single molecules studies include nucleic acid enzymes, RNA activities, macromolecule folding, chromatin remodeling, gene expression and cell signaling, with more to come. Results from single-molecule experiments are highly complementary to ensemble methods. In many cases, the single molecule approach proves to be the unique way of tackling a scientific problem. As the techniques mature, more and more biologists start to utilize and perfect single molecule methods. Concurrently, chemists are developing ever more specific macromolecular labels for live cell imaging and physicists are pushing the envelope of single-molecule instrumentation towards higher sensitivity and higher spatial and temporal resolution.

The burgeoning use of single molecule approaches to elucidate biological problems is a highly multidisciplinary pursuit. This conference seeks to bring together top experts in molecular and cell biology with innovators in the measurement and manipulation of single molecules. The intention is to better promote the use of the single-molecule approach to generate new biological knowledge and to better orient the development and implementation of single molecule techniques for compelling biological problems.