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Carlos Bustamante is interested in the dynamics and mechanochemical properties of molecular motors involved in transcription and translation. In particular, Bustamante and his team are investigating the physical basis of transcription regulation by the nucleosomal barrier. They are also interested in the process of protein folding and, more specifically, the co-translational folding of nascent polypeptides. To this end, Bustamante and his team develop and apply novel methods of single-molecule manipulation and detection, such as optical tweezers, magnetic tweezers, and single-molecule fluorescent microscopy. More recently, they have begun to complement this dynamic information with structural data obtained by cryo-electron microscopy.