Welcome to the Dhakal Lab

Single Molecule Microscopy and DNA Nanotechnology Lab @ VCU

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Research

Below is a short description of our research. Visit our Publications page for details.

Single-molecule sensing of DNA/RNA biomarkers

We are interested in developing DNA-based sensors for multiplexed detection of DNA/RNA biomarkers. The long-term goal is to implement the sensing strategy for the detection of disease related biomarkers in clinical samples.

Single-molecule analysis of protein-DNA interactions

This project includes single-molecule analysis of Holliday junction (HJ)-binding proteins that play critical roles in repairing DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in a biological process called homologous recombination (HR). We employ state-of-the-art single molecule techniques including single-molecule FRET and optical tweezers for these studies.