July 21, 2014
Dr. Wei Cheng is the principal investigator in a University of Michigan study that developed a tool using optical tweezers to identify which HIV viruses cause infection.

Dr. Wei Cheng, the Ara G. Paul Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, is the principal investigator in a University of Michigan study thought to be the first in which researchers were able to capture HIV at the single-particle level and measure with molecular resolutions.

To study the HIV viral particles, the U-M team improved upon an already existing tool called optical tweezers, which uses photons, or light, to manipulate tiny molecular motors or nanostructures. This immobilizes the structure and enables contact-free study that doesn't disturb or distort the structure.

Ultimately, Cheng said they hope to learn which strains of HIV contain the most dangerous viral particles most likely to infect healthy cells.

The study, "Optical trapping of individual human immunodeficiency viruses in culture fluid reveals heterogeneity with single-molecule resolution," was released for online publication July 20 in Nature Nanotechnology.

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