Papers – Page 36 – TechConnect Briefs

Toward an Integrated Computational Environment for Multiscale Computational Design of Nanoscale Ion Channel Semiconductors

Natarajan S., Varma S., Tang Y., Parker S., Mashl J., Jakobsson E., NCSA, US

This paper describes the design and operation of an integrated multiscale computational environment for design of nanoscale ion channel semiconductors, the Ion Channel Workbench. The present work builds on an earlier multiscale calculation from our [...]

Hybrid MD-PNP Simulations of the Alpha-Hemolysin Open Ion Currents

Cozmuta I., O'Keeffe J.T., Stolc V., Eloret Corp, NASA Ames Research Center, US

Recent experimental studies have used the alpha hemolysin protein as a model system to decipher ionic signature patterns in the genetic code of nucleic acids. These studies show that single stranded nucleic acids polymers can [...]

BioMOCA: A Transport Monte Carlo Approach to Ion Channel Simulation

van der Straaten T.A., Kathawala G., Ravaioli U., Beckman Institute, University of Illinois, US

Ion channels are highly charged proteins found in the cell membrane, which regulate ion transport to the cell. Most channels switch between conducting and non-conducting states and many can selectively transmit or block a particular [...]

Brownian Dynamics Simulation of Transport Properties in Potassium Ion Channels

Aboud S., Marreiro D., Saraniti M., Eisenberg R.S., IIT/Rush University, US

In this work, a Brownian dynamics simulator based on the self-consistent coupling of the Langevin equation with a field solver, is used to model the ionic transport. Within this approach, the molecular structure of both [...]

The Dielectric Boundary Force in Ion Channels: The Case of Gramicidin

Nadler B., Hollerbach U., Eisenberg R.S., Yale University, US

In an electrostatic problem with different dielectric regions, a charge in one region induces surface charges at all dielectric boundaries, which, in turn, exert an often neglected force on the charge that induced them. This [...]

A Proposal Conceptualization of a Hybrid Bio-Moto-Reductor Actuator and the “Virtual Shaft” Hypothesis

Venegas M.A., Nano Science and Technology Institute, MX

Motors are one of the most used motion devices in so many places, with high impact in the industry; they provide rotary motions that generate useful work at almost any particular application. Most of the [...]

A Mechanistic Model of the Motility of Actin Filaments on Myosin

Nicolau_Jr. D.V., Nicolau D.V., Nicolau_Jr. D.V., Swinburne University, AU

The motility of acto-myosin is crucial to cell motility, muscular contraction, cell division etc.; and recently to several hybrid dynamic devices based on protein molecular motors. In a sense, the in vitro motility assay, which [...]

MEMS Biofluidic Device Concept Based on a Supramolecular Motor

Knieser M.J., Knieser M.R., Pidaparti R., Kadioglu F., Harris R.D., Knieser M.J., Knieser M.R., Hsu A., Indiana Univerisity Purdue University Indianapolis, US

The supramolecular machine, called the nuclear pore complex (NPC), controls the transport of all cellular material between the cytoplasm and the nucleus that occurs naturally in all biological cells. In the presence of appropriate chemical [...]

Biomimetic Molecules as Building Blocks for Synthetic Muscles – A Proposal

Flood A.H., Badjic J., Han J-Y, Pentecost C., Northrop B.H., Cantrill S.J., Houk K.N., Stoddart J.F., UCLA and CNSI, US

Biomolecular motors are natures machines that convert chemical energy into mechanical work. The performance and scale of these systems are believed to derive from their precise positioning and alignment into organized hierarchical levels at the [...]

Viral Protein Linear (VPL) Nano-Actuators

Dubey A., Sharma G., Mavroidis C., Tomassone S.M., Nikitczuk K.P., Yarmush M.L., Northeastern University, US

The Bio-Nano-Robotics Group at Rutgers is interested in achieving efficient motion/energy conversion through nanoscale mechanical devices made from biomolecules, such as proteins and DNA, in tandem with synthetic devices such as carbon nanotubes. In a [...]