Biomaterials – Page 118 – TechConnect Briefs

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 [...]

Ion Channels

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 [...]

A Molecular Motor that Links the Biological and Silicon Worlds

Robinson T., Blundell A., Dutta C.F., Firman K., University of Portsmouth, UK

The EcoR124I restriction endonuclease is also a biological molecular motor. It is able to attach to DNA at a specific location and then translocate the rest of the DNA molecule through the bound complex. Therefore, [...]

Actin Adsorbed on HOPG and Mica Substrates: Characterization and Manipulation by Atomic Force Microscopy

Nicolau D.V., Watson G.S., Cahill C., Blach J., Myhra S., Swinburne University, AU

We report on the fabrication of nanostructures built of actin using the Atomic Force Microscopy and molecularly organised substrata, i.e. HOPG and mica. We obtained both ‘paracrystalline rafts’ of actin adsorbed onto hydrophobic HOPG, as [...]