Watt W. Webb
Professor
of Applied Physics
Samuel B. Eckert Professor in Engineering
School of Applied & Engineering Physics
223 Clark Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: 607-255-3331
Fax: 607-255-7658 Contact
Prof. Webb
B.S. 1947, Sc.D. 1955 (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Biography
Professor Webb conducted research in engineering and solid-state and chemical
physics as coordinator of fundamental research and assistant director
of research at Union Carbide Corporation before and after graduate studies.
He joined the Cornell faculty in 1961, served as director of the School
of Applied and Engineering Physics from 1983 to 1989 and is presently
a member of the graduate faculties of seven fields. He directs the Developmental
Resource for Biophysical Imaging Opto-Electronics. He is on the board
of directors and executive committee of the Cornell Research Foundation.
He is affiliated with the university's Biophysics Program, the Cornell
Center for Materials Research, the National Biotechnology Center and serves
on the Life Sciences Advisory Council. He has been a visiting scholar
at Stanford University, a Guggenheim fellow, a scholar in residence at
the NIH Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study, and the 1997
Ernst Abbe lecturer. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS)
and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a founding
fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers,
and an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering; National
Academy of Science, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He won
the APS Biological Physics Prize in 1990, the Ernst Abby Lecture Award
in 1997, the Michelson-Morley Award in 1999, the Rank Prize for Opto-electronics
in 2000, the Jablonski Award Lecturer in 2001, and the 2002 National Lecturer
of the Biophysical Society, and has served as chairman of the Division
of Biological Physics and associate editor of Physical Review Letters.
He is active as a consultant and in various national advisory committees
and professional societies.
Research Interests
The solution of seeming impossible experimental problems drives our creation
of new experimental technologies, which during the past thirty years have
focused primarily on observing the dynamics of the biomolecular processes
of life. This challenge requires benign, effectively non-invasive methods
that frequently push the physical limits of resolution in space, time
and sensitivity. See www.drbio.cornell.edu for some of the research program
and for publication lists.
Seeming
Impossible Biological Problems
Several of these innovations: Multiphoton Microscopy (MPM), Fluorescence
Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS), nanoscopic molecular tracking and most
recently, nanostructured molecular dynamic probes are being applied to
some of these seeming impossible biological problems. Over the years,
about 35 of our publications have focused on the challenges of neuroscience,
including: molecular mechanisms and physics of auditory transduction,
the first successful single channel recording of reconstituted natural
ion channels and on their structural fluctuations and mechano-sensitivity,
signal delays along neural processes in neural networks, detection and
imaging of serotonin and its secretion, imaging the development of the
lesions of Alzheimer’s Disease in transgenic mice, and most recently
(now in press) successful optical imaging of action potentials with time
resolutions corresponding to patch clamp recordings which promises to
supplement the usual application of MPM to calcium signals as a method
of choice for neural response measurements in live neural networks.
Membrane
Heterogeneity
Our early emphasis on optical measurement of molecular mobility in cell
membranes led to the engineering of Fluorescence Photobleaching Recovery,
also called FRAP and later to the first nanoscopic tracking of the individual
cell surface receptor molecules in the complete population on living cells,
which led eventually to evidence for the membrane heterogeneity now known
as “membrane rafts” in the form of our discovery of anomalous
subdiffusion and diversity of characteristics of tracking trajectories
on the living cell surfaces. We have recently resumed research on the
fundamentals of membrane heterogeneity, motivated by the chronic violations
of the elementary paradigms of chemical physics in its current biological
discussions. We have recently analyzed the behavior of large multiphase
bilayer vesicles to measure the interphase energies (line tension) for
the first time, detect the effects of the Gaussian curvature energy of
membranes and discover the facilitation of vesicle budding by interphase
tensions. This research also demonstrated the onset of critical fluctuations
in these two-dimensional fluids as the temperature approached the line
of critical points where the two phases merge and the energy cost of fluctuations
and the interphase tension vanish. It is ironical that the three-dimensional
analog of precisely this problem was first observed and studied in our
laboratory nearly 40 years ago.
Enzyme Kinetics
We have also recently developed methods for detection and measurements
of enzyme kinetics with single molecule sensitivity to measure enzyme
kinetics fluctuations, individual particle detection sensitivity and molecular
size scaling even to attomolar concentrations, and convenient small volume
chemical kinetics with fast enough mixing for one microsecond time resolution
(presently we reach about 30 microseconds).
Clinical Medicine
As our biophysical research has evolved, we have come closer to realizing
direct applications of our techniques in clinical medicine. Thus, our
current multiphoton imaging research focuses on in vivo imaging,
particularly on disease states generated in transgenic animal models of
human diseases and on potential medical tools such as multiphoton endoscopy.
This strategy now impinges on the realm of biomedical engineering.
Selected Publications:
Kasischke, K. A., H. D. Vishwasrao, P. J. Fisher,
W. R. Zipfel and W. W. Webb, "Neural activity triggers neuronal oxidative
metabolism followed by astrocytic glycolysis," Science 305(5680),
99-103, 2004
Baumgart, T., S. T. Hess and W. W. Webb, "Imaging coexisting fluid
domains in biomembrane models coupling curvature and line tension,"
Nature 425, 821-824, 2003
Webb, W.W., "Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy: Inception, biophysical
experimentations and prospectus," Applied Optics 40(24),
3969-3983, 2001
Heikal, A.A., S.T. Hess, G.S. Baird, R.Y. Tsien and W.W. Webb, "Molecular
spectroscopy and dynamics of intrinsically fluorescent proteins: Coral
red (dsRed) and yellow (Citrine)," PNAS 97(22), 11996-12001,
2000
Schwille, P., U. Haupts, S. Maiti and W.W. Webb, "Molecular dynamics
in living cells observed by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy with
one- and two-photon excitation," Biophys. J. 77(4),
2251-2265, 1999
Albota, M.,
D. Beljonne, J.L. Bredas, J.E. Ehrlich, J.Y. Fu, A.A. Heikal, S.E. Hess,
T. Kogej, M.D. Levin, S.R. Marder, D. McCord-Maughon, J.W. Perry, H. Rockel,
M. Rumi, C. Subramaniam, W.W. Webb, X.L. Wu and C. Xu, "Design of
organic molecules with large two-photon absorption cross sections,"
Science 281(5383), 1653-1656, 1998
Denk, W., W.W. Webb and A.J. Hudspeth, "Mechanical-Properties of
Sensory Hair Bundles Are Reflected in Their Brownian-Motion Measured With
a Laser Differential Interferometer," PNAS 86(14),
5371-5375, 1989
Ryan, T.A., J. Myers, D. Holowka, B. Baird and W.W. Webb, "Molecular
Crowding On the Cell-Surface," Science 239(4835), 61-64,
1988
Tank, D.W., R.L. Huganir, P. Greengard and W.W. Webb, "Patch-Recorded
Single-Channel Currents of the Purified and Reconstituted Torpedo Acetylcholine-Receptor,"
PNAS 80(16), 5129-5133, 1983
Barak, L.S. and W.W. Webb, "Diffusion of Low-Density Lipoprotein-Receptor
Complex On Human- Fibroblasts," J. Cell Biol. 95(3),
846-852, 1982
Magde, D., W.W. Webb and E. Elson, "Thermodynamic Fluctuations in
a Reacting System - Measurement by Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy,"
Phys. Rev. Lett. 29(11), 705-708, 1972
Complete Publications List
