Matthew J Comstock
Associate Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy
Location: 4238 Biomed Phys Sci
Phone: 517-884-5645
Email: mjcomsto@msu.edu
Bio
Dr. Comstock earned his undergraduate degree in physics from The University of Chicago and received a physics Ph.D. in condensed matter from the University of California, Berkeley, with research focused on optically controlled molecular machines. At the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Matt jumped into biological physics during a postdoctoral fellowship, where he constructed a novel microscope capable of observing in real-time both the structure and the function of individual biological molecular motors at the angstrom scale. In August 2012, Matt joined the faculty at MSU. As an assistant professor and the Jerry Cowen Chair of Physics, he will continue to advance the frontiers of single molecule biology experimental techniques. # Education * 2008: Ph.D., Physics, University of California, Berkeley; * 2000: B.S., Physics, University of Chicago # Labs * B149 Biomedical-Physical Sciences Bldg. (517) 884-5491 * B238 Biomedical-Physical Sciences Bldg. (517) 884-5705
Courses
- PHY 221: Studio Phys for Life Science I
Selected Publications
- Direct observation of structure-function relationship in a nucleic acid–processing enzyme, M. J. Comstock,K. K. Whitley, H. Jia, J. Sokoloski, T. M. Lohman, Taekjip Ha, Y. R. Chemla, Science, 348, 352-354 [2015] View Publication
- Reversible photomechanical switching of individual engineered molecules at a metallic surface, Matthew J. Comstock, Niv Levy, et al., Physical Review Letters, 99 (3), 038301 [2007] View Publication
- Ultrahigh-resolution optical trap with single-fluorophore sensitivity, Matthew J Comstock, Taekjip Ha, Yann R Chemla, Nature methods, 8 (4), 335-340 [2011] View Publication