H. Peter Lu
Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor

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Current Activities and Projects

Single-molecule spectroscopy study of interfacial electron transfer dynamics, protein-protein interaction dynamics, enzymatic reaction dynamics, and ion-channel protein dynamics. (Click here for more details.)

Research Interests

My research (Current Research Scope) involves single-molecule spectroscopy studies of molecular kinetics and dynamics in condensed phase and at interfaces. Research on the single-molecule/nanoparticle interfacial electron transfer dynamics represents an applications of single-molecule approaches to study an important interfacial chemical reaction that was traditionally studied by ensemble-averaged experiments. We have been applying single-molecule fluorescence and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopies to obtain detailed Franck-Condon vibronic coupling, electron-transfer driving forces, and solvent relaxation energies of electron donor molecules and the nanoparticles. In the area of reaction and dynamics in proteins and protein complexes, we are studying the dynamics and mechanisms of single-molecule enzymatic reactions and non-covalent DNA-protein and protein-protein interactions. Non-Arrhenius and non-Markovian dynamics, allosteric effect, cooperativity, and memory effects of enzymatic reactions have been widely observed but are poorly understood due to the nature of the static and dynamic inhomogeneities in an ensemble-averaged measurement as well as in the intrinsic molecular dynamics. By applying single-molecule approaches, we have been able to investigate the protein conformational relaxation and fluctuation behaviors to identify the protein conformational motion dynamics and the correlated enzymatic turnover dynamics and mechanisms. Our research has also provided unique experimental identifications and characterizations of fluctuating noncovalent protein-protein interactions in cell signaling and protein-DNA interactions in DNA damage recognition. These fluctuating and inhomogeneous conformational motions in protein-protein and protein-DNA complexes most likely determine the capability of protein recognitions and DNA damage recognition. We also developed a number of AFM-tip enhanced NSOM fluorescence and Raman optical imaging approaches that are capable of obtaining Raman or fluorescence imaging beyond optical diffraction limited spatial resolution. We had applied our AFM-tip enhanced or correlated optical imaging approaches to analyzing bacterial cell membrane proteins.
Past Experience

• Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor, Bowling Green State University, 2006 - present


• Chief Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2005-2006


• Senior Research Scientist II, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 1999-2005


• Senior Research Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 1996-1999


• Postdoctoral Fellow, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 1995-1996


• Research Associate, Northwestern University, 1991-1995


• Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry, Peking University, 1984-1986

Education

• Columbia University, Ph.D. Chemistry, 1991


• Columbia University, M. Phil. Chemistry, 1989


• Peking University, M. Sci. Chemistry, 1984


• Peking University, B.A. Chemistry, 1982

Awards, Honors, & Appointments

Olscamp Research Award, BGSU, 2009
FSD Outstanding Performance Award, PNNL, 2004
FSD Outstanding Performance Award, PNNL, 2003
FSD Outstanding Performance Award, PNNL, 2002
FSD Outstanding Performance Award, PNNL, 2001
ESHD Outstanding Performance Award, PNNL, 1999

Selected Recent Publications

1. Suneth P. Rajapaksha, Yufan He, H. Peter Lu, “Combined Topographic, Spectroscopic, and Model Analyses of Inhomogeneous Energetic Coupling of Linear Light Harvesting Complex II Aggregates in Native Photosynthetic Membrane,” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 15, 5636-5647 (2013).
   
   
2. Qian Wang, Yuanmin Wang, H. Peter Lu, “Revealing the Secondary Structural Changes of Amyloid β Peptide by Probing the Spectral Fingerprint Characters,” J. Raman Spectroscopy, 44, 670-674 (2013).
   
   
3. Yuanmin Wang, Papatya Sevinc, Sara Balchik, Jim Fridrickson, Liang Shi, H. Peter Lu, “Single-Cell Imaging and Spectroscopic Analyses of Cr(VI) Reduction on the Surface of Bacterial Cells,” Langmuir, 29, 950-956 (2013).
   
   
4. Yufan He, Maolin Lu, H. Peter Lu, “Single-Molecule Photon Stamping FRET Spectroscopy Study of Enzymatic Conformational Dynamics,” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 15, 770-775 (2013) (Cover page). Link
   
   
5. Yufan He, Maolin Lu, Jin Cao, H. Peter Lu, “Manipulating Protein Conformations by Single-Molecule AFM-FRET Nanoscopy,” ACS Nano,  6, 1221-1229 (2012). Link
   
   
6. H. Peter Lu, “Enzymes in Coherent Motion,” Science, 335, 300-301 (2012). Link
   
   
7. Desheng Zheng, Leonora Kaldaras, H. Peter Lu , “Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy Imaging-Guided Confocal Single-Molecule Fluorescence Spectroscopy,” Review of Scientific Instruments, 83, 013110 (2012). Link
   
   
8. He, Yufan; Li, Yue; Mukherjee, Saptarshi; Wu, Yan; Yan, Honggao; Lu, H. Peter, "Probing Single-Molecule Enzyme Active-Site Conformational State Intermittent Coherence," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 14389-14395 (2011). Link
   
   
9. Suraj Saraswat, Anil Desireddy, Desheng Zheng, Lijun Guo, H. Peter Lu, Terry P. Bigioni, and Dragan Isailovic, “Energy Transfer from Fluorescent Proteins to Metal Nanoparticles,” J. Phys. Chem. C 115(35), 17587-17593 (2011). Link
   
   
10. X. Wang, D. Zhang, Y. Wang, P. Sevinc, H. Peter, Lu, A. J. Meixner,   “Interfacial Electron Transfer Energetics Studied by High Spatial Resolution Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopic Imaging,” Angewandte Chemie International Edition 50, (2011) A25-A29. Link
    
    
11. Sara M. Belchik, David W. Kennedy, Alice C. Dohnalkova, Yuanmin Wang, Papatya C. Sevinc, Hong Wu, Yuehe Lin, H. Peter Lu, James K. Fredrickson, and Liang Shi, “Extracellular Reduction of Hexavalent Chromium by MtrC and OmcA of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1,”  Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 77, 4035-4041 (2011). Link
    
    
12. Yuanmin Wang, Papatya C. Sevinc, Yufan He, H. Peter Lu, " Probing Ground-State Single-Electron Self-Exchange Across a Molecule-Metal Interface," J. Am. Chem. Soc., 133, 6989-6996 (2011). Link
    
    
13. H. Peter Lu, "Revealing Time Bunching Effect in Single-Molecule Enzyme Conformational Dynamics," Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 13, 6734-6749 (2011). Link
    
    
14. Sevinc, Papatya; Wang, Xiao; Wang, Yuanmin; Zhang, Dai; Meixner, Alfred; Lu, H. Peter, "Simultaneous Spectroscopic and Topographic Near-Field Imaging of TiO2 Single Surface States and Interfacial Electronic Coupling," Nano Letters, 1490-1494 (2011). Link
    
    
15. Yuanmin Wang, H. Peter Lu, "Bunching Effect in Single-Molecule T4 Lysozyme Non-Equilibrium Conformational Dynamics under Enzymatic Reactions," J. Phys. Chem. B, 114, 6669-6674 (2010) (Cover page).  Link
     
    
16. H. Peter Lu, "Acquiring a Nano-View of Single Molecules in Actions," Nano Reviews 1, 6-7 (2010). Link
    
    
17. H. Peter Lu, "Single-Molecule Protein Conformational Dynamics in Enzymatic Reactions," Chapter 24, PP471-494 in Single Molecule Spectroscopy in Chemistry, Physics and Biology: Nobel Symposium (Springer Publishing, 2010). Link
    


18. Guo, Lijun; Wang, Yuanmin; Lu, H. Peter, "Combined Single-Molecule Photon-Stamping Spectroscopy and Femtosecond Transient Absorption Spectroscopy Studies of Interfacial Electron Transfer Dynamics," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132, 1999-2004 (2010) (Cover page). Link
    
    
19. Yufan He, Xiaohua Zeng, Saptarshi Mukherjee, Suneth Rajapaksha, Samuel Kaplan, H. Peter Lu, "Revealing Linear Aggregates of Light Harvesting Antenna Proteins in Photosynthetic Membranes," Langmuir 26, 307-313 (2010) (Cover page).  Link
    
    
20. Yuanmin Wang, Xuefei Wang, and H. Peter Lu, "Probing single-molecule interfacial geminate electron-cation recombination dynamics,” J. Am. Chem. Soc.  131, 9020–9025 (2009).  Link
    
    
21. H. Peter Lu, "Single-Molecule Protein Interaction Conformational Dynamics," Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 10, 522-531 (2009). Link
    
    
22. H. Peter Lu, "Combined Single-Molecule Electrical Recording and Single-Molecule Spectroscopy Studies of Ion Channel Conformational Dynamics," an invited book chapter in Methods in Nano Cell Biology, edited by Bhanu Jena, ELSEVIER (2009).
    
    
23. Yuanmin Wang, Xuefei Wang, Sujit Kumar Ghosh, H. Peter Lu, "Probing single-molecule interfacial electron transfer dynamics of porphyrin on TiO2 nanoparticles," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 1479-1487 (2009). Link
    
    
24. Xuefei Wang, and H. Peter Lu, "2D Regional Correlation Analysis of Single-Molecule Time Trajectories,"  J. Phys. Chem. B. 112, 14920-14926 (2008). Link
    
    
25. Duohai Pan, Dehong Hu, Ruchuan Liu, Xiaohua Zeng, Samuel Kaplan, H. Peter Lu, “Fluctuating Two-State Light Harvesting in a Photosynthetic Membrane,” J. Phys. Chem. C, 111, 8948-8956 (2007). Link
    
    
26. Qiang Lu, H. Peter Lu, and Jin Wang, “Exploring the Mechanism of Flexible Biomolecular Recognition with Single Molecule Dynamics,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 128105 (2007). Link
    
    
27. V. Biju, D. Pan, Yuri A. Gorby, Jim Fredrickson, J. Mclean, D. Saffarini and H. Peter Lu , "Correlated Spectroscopic and Topographic Characterization of Nanoscale Domains and Their Distributions of a Redox Protein on Bacterial Cell Surfaces," Langmuir 23, 1333-1338 (2007). Link
    
    
28. Ruchuan Liu, Dehong Hu, Xin Tan, and H. Peter Lu, "Revealing Two-State Protein-Protein Interactions of Calmodulin by Single-Molecule Spectroscopy," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128, 10034-10042 (2006). Link


29. Jin Wang, Qiang Lu, and H. Peter Lu, "Single-Molecule Dynamics Reveals Cooperative Binding-Folding in Protein Recognition," PLoS Computational Biology, 2, 842-852 (2006). Link


30. Dehong Hu and H. Peter Lu, "Single molecule electron transfer process of ruthenium complexes," Proc. SPIE Vol. 6092, 609207 (2006). 


31. T. Zhang, S. N. Danthi, J. Xie, D. Hu, H. P. Lu, and K. Li, "Live cell imaging of the endocytosis and the intracellular trafficking of multifunctional lipid nanoparticles," Proc. SPIE Vol. 6095, 60950D (2006). 


32. Duohai Pan, Nick Klymyshyn, Dehong Hu, and H. Peter Lu, "Tip-enhanced near-field Raman spectroscopy probing single dye-sensitized TiO2 nanoparticles," Appl. Phys. Lett., 88, 093121(2006). Link


33. Duohai Pan, Dehong Hu, and H. Peter Lu, "Probing Inhomogeneous Vibrational Reorganization Energy Barriers of Interfacial Electron Transfer," J. Phys. Chem. B, 109, 16390-16395 (2005) (Cover page). Link
34. Dehong Hu and H. Peter Lu, "Single-Molecule Triplet-State Photon Antibunching at Room Temperature," J. Phys. Chem. B, 109, 9861-9864 (2005). Link


35. H. Peter Lu, invited review article, "Probing Single-Molecule Protein Conformational Dynamics," Acc. Chem. Res. 38, 557-565 (2005). Link


36. H. Peter Lu, "Single-Molecule Study of Protein-Protein and Protein-DNA Interaction Dynamics," an invited book chapter in Protein-Ligand Interactions, edited by Uli Nienhaus, The Humana Press Inc., 2005. 


37. H. Peter Lu, invited review article, "Site-Specific Raman Spectroscopy and Chemical Dynamics of Nanoscale Interstitial Systems," J. Physics: Condensed Matter, 17, R333-R355 (2005).Link


38. V. Biju, Miodrag Micic, Dehong Hu, and H. Peter Lu, "Intermittent Single-Molecule Interfacial Electron Transfer Dynamics," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 9374-9381 (2004). Link


39. Xin Tan, Dehong Hu, Thomas C. Squier, and H. Peter Lu, "Probing Nanosecond Protein Motions of Calmodulin by Single-Molecule Fluorescence Anisotropy," Applied Phys. Lett., 85, 2420-2422 (2004).  Link


40. Miodrag Micic, Dehong Hu, Greg Newton, Margie Romine, H. Peter Lu, "Correlated Atomic Force Microscopy and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging of Live Bacterial Cells," Surface and Colloid B, 34, 205-212 (2004). Link


41. H. Peter Lu, invited review, "Single-molecule spectroscopy studies of conformational change dynamics in enzymatic reactions," a special issue of Curr Pharm Biotech (The way down from single genes, and proteins to single molecules.), 5, 261-269 (2004). Link


42. Dehong Hu, H. Peter Lu, "Single Molecule Implanting of T4 Lysozyme on Bacterial Cell Surface: Towards Study Single Molecule Enzymatic Reaction in Living Cells," Biophys. J., 87, 656-661 (2004). Link


43. D. Hu, M. Micic, N. Klymyshyn, Y. D. Suh, H. Peter Lu, "Correlated topographic and spectroscopic imaging by combined atomic force microscopy and optical microscopy," J. Luminescence, 107, 4-12 (2004). Link


44. G. Harms, G. Orr, H. Peter Lu, "Probing ion channel conformational dynamics using simultaneous single-molecule ultrafast spectroscopy and patch-clamp electric recording," Appl. Phys. Lett., 84, 1792-1794 (2004). Link


45. Xin Tan, Perihan Nalbant, Alexei Toutchkine, Dehong Hu, Erich R. Vorpagel, Klaus M. Hahn, and H Peter Lu, "Single-Molecule Study of Protein-Protein Interaction Dynamics in a Cell Signaling System," J. Phys. Chem. B., 108, 737 (2004). Link


46. Miodrag Micic, Nicholas Klymyshyn, H. Peter Lu, "Finite Element Method Simulations of the Near-Field Enhancement at the vicinity of Fractal Rough Metallic Surfaces," J. Phys. Chem. B., 108, 2939 (2004). Link


47. Dehong Hu, Miodrag Micic, Nicholas Klymyshyn, Yung Doug Suh, and H. Peter Lu "Correlated Topographic and Spectroscopic Imaging Beyond Diffraction Limit by Atomic Force Microscopy Metallic Tip-Enhanced Near-Field Fluorescence Lifetime Microscopy," Rev. Sci. Inst., 74, 3347 (2003). Link


48. Yu Chen, Dehong Hu, Erich R. Vorpagel, and H. Peter Lu, "Probing Single-Molecule T4 Lysozyme Conformational Dynamics by Intramolecular Fluorescence Energy Transfer," J. Phys. Chem. B, 107, 7947 (2003). Link


49. Greg S. Harms, Galya Orr, Mauricio Montal, Brian D. Thrall, Steve D. Colson, H. Peter Lu, "Probing Conformational Changes of Gramicidin Ion Channels by Single-Molecule Patch-Clamp Fluorescence Microscopy," Biophys. J., 85, 1826 (2003). Link


50. Dehong Hu and H. Peter Lu, "Single-Molecule Nanosecond Anisotropy Dynamics of Tethered Protein Motions," J. Phys. Chem. B, 107, 618 (2003) (Cover page). Link