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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Use of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance in Biological Samples at Ambient Temperature and 77 K
Published on: January 11, 2019
Protein imaging. Single-protein spin resonance spectroscopy under ambient conditions
Fazhan Shi1, Qi Zhang2, Pengfei Wang1
1Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei 230026, China. Joint Laboratory of Quantum Biophysics, USTC Institute of Biophysics and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, USTC, Hefei 230026, China.
Abstract:
Magnetic resonance is essential in revealing the structure and dynamics of biomolecules. However, measuring the magnetic resonance spectrum of single biomolecules has remained an elusive goal. We demonstrate the detection of the electron spin resonance signal from a single spin-labeled protein under ambient conditions. As a sensor, we use a single nitrogen vacancy center in bulk diamond in close proximity to the protein. We measure the orientation of the spin label at the protein and detect the impact of protein motion on the spin label dynamics. In addition, we coherently drive the spin at the protein, which is a prerequisite for studies involving polarization of nuclear spins of the protein or detailed structure analysis of the protein itself.
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