Our research focuses on elucidating the mechanisms of molecular machines in cellular assembly and disassembly processes using a combination of biochemical and biophysical approaches. In particular we develop fluorescence imaging approaches to visualise the dynamics of these processes at the single-molecule level. The advantage of single molecule measurements is that they can resolve the kinetics of processes without the need for synchronisation and permit the detection of short-lived intermediates in the reaction pathways that are otherwise averaged out in classical ensemble measurements. Our work draws on approaches from the physical sciences with development of microfluidic imaging devices, surface chemistry approaches and development of automated image analysis software.