AVS 49th International Symposium
    Nanometer Structures Monday Sessions
       Session NS+BI-MoA

Paper NS+BI-MoA2
Molecular Shuttles Based on Motor Proteins: Transporters for Nanotechnology

Monday, November 4, 2002, 2:20 pm, Room C-207

Session: Nanobiology
Presenter: H. Hess, University of Washington
Authors: H. Hess, University of Washington
J. Clemmens, University of Washington
C.M. Matzke, Sandia National Laboratories
G.D. Bachand, Sandia National Laboratories
B.C. Bunker, Sandia National Laboratories
J. Howard, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany
V. Vogel, University of Washington
Correspondent: Click to Email
Active transport in cells, utilizing molecular motors like kinesin and myosin, provides the inspiration for the integration of active transport into synthetic devices. Hybrid devices, employing motor proteins in a synthetic environment, are the first prototypes of molecular shuttles - an active nanoscale transport system. The key problems for the construction of a molecular shuttle are guiding the direction of the motion, controlling the speed, and loading and unloading of cargo. Various techniques, relying on surface topography and chemistry as well as flow fields and electric fields, have been developed by us@footnote 1@ and others@footnote 2@ to guide the movement of molecular shuttles on surfaces. The control of ATP concentration, acting as fuel supply, can serve as a means to control the speed of movement. The loading process requires the coupling of cargo to the shuttle, ideally by a strong and specific link. Applications of molecular shuttles can be envisioned e.g. in the field of Nano-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (NEMS), where scaling laws favor active transport over fluid flow, and in the bottom-up assembly of novel materials. Recently, we demonstrated that the shuttles can be employed as self-propelled nanoscale probes to image surface topography.@footnote 3@ The construction of an image relies on the tracking of the random movement of a large number of independent probes, a concept which is fundamentally different from e.g. the deterministic movement of a single tip in scanning probe microscopy. An aspect of our research is that devices using molecular shuttles can be based on mechanisms which are unique to the microscopic world. An example of this is the possible application of a Brownian ratchet for directional sorting.@footnote 4@ @FootnoteText@@footnote 1@ Hess, H., et al., Nano Letters, 2001. 1(5): p. 235. @footnote 2@ Hess, H. and Vogel, V., Rev. Mol. Biotechn., 2001. 82: p. 67. @footnote 3@ Hess, H., et al, Nano Letters, 2002. 2(2): p. 113. @footnote 4@ Hess, H., et al., Appl. Phys. A, 2002. 75: p. 309.