Research in the Lohman laboratory focuses on obtaining a molecular understanding of the factors that affect the stability, specificity of macromolecular assemblies and protein-nucleic acid complexes in particular, as well as their mechanisms of interaction. Biophysical, biochemical, structural and molecular biological approaches are used to probe these interactions at the molecular level. We are currently investigating two classes of DNA binding proteins: helicases/DNA translocases (motor proteins) and single stranded DNA binding (SSB) proteins. A major emphasis is on the use of equilibrium binding (thermodynamic), pre-steady state kinetic (fluorescence stopped-flow and quenched-flow) and single molecule (fluorescence and optical tweezers) approaches to probe the mechanisms of these protein-DNA interactions.