Nancy Forde is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Simon Fraser University, Canada and runs her own research group.
Her research group is fascinated by the molecular-level physical properties of our bodies’ building blocks. What is the blueprint encoded in proteins that allows for dynamical control of structure and assembly? How is it that our tissues can be made of individual building blocks that are, themselves, unstable? How do molecular motors achieve their amazing transport properties, in the context of the random, thermal environment of cells?
They explore these questions, and more, by quantifying the physical properties of single molecules, and examine how their interactions can lead to emergent properties. Their approaches span the domains of physics – including nonequilibrium statistical physics, polymer physics, optics; chemistry and biochemistry; and molecular and cell biology. They combine experiment and computer simulations, building single-molecule instrumentation to probe systems in new ways, exploiting cells and synthetic biology to provide molecular systems for study; and developing and utilizing models to explore parameter space and help guide and interpret experiments.
Nancy Forde
Recent AFM-related papers:
Biography: Nancy is a Professor of Physics at Simon Fraser University, where she is also an associate member of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and of the Department of Chemistry. She completed her PhD at the University of Chicago and carried out postdoctoral research with Carlos Bustamante at the University of California, Berkeley. She is equally passionate about the protein collagen (the focus of much of her group’s research) and about making Physics accessible to all. She has received numerous awards for her teaching. Nancy currently serves as the President of the Biophysical Society of Canada.
Twitter: @nr_forde, @SFUPhysics
Websites:
https://www.sfu.ca/physics/people/faculty/nforde.html
https://www.sfu.ca/fordelab/index.html
https://github.com/FordeLab (AFM image analysis software)
Are you a woman conducting AFM research or know of someone you would like to nominate to be featured in our next #WomenInAFM campaign? Contact us at community@nunano.com!
Also, check out our previous March and November 2021 Women in AFM blog posts to read about more researchers.
Why are we celebrating women in AFM? (March 2021)
Why do we need to highlight women in AFM? (Nov 2021)