Temperature-controlled microfluidic platforms for single molecule studies   In single molecule studies, the behaviour of the biomolecule in question can have significant temperature dependence. However, conventional temperature control methods are cumbersome and inflexible, and are therefore not well suited to single molecules. In contrast, MEMS has the potential to enable effective and accurate temperature control in a micro environment tailored to the needs of single-molecule studies. We are developing temperature-controlled microfluidic platforms for single-molecule studies. For example, a microfluidic device consisting of parallel microchannels and thin-film temperature-control elements have been created for studies of the translocation of the tRNA-mRNA complex within the ribosome, a fundamental step during protein biosynthesis, at multiple, precisely controlled temperatures.