Research Program
Biomolecular Dynamics

Project #
BD3

Principal Investigators
Michael Koonce (Wadsworth Center) Lead Program Investigator. Dr Koonce's efforts oversee the entire project, coordinate the fabrication and microscopy work, and provide facilities/reagents at Wadsworth for the biological development of the device. Hands on work include development of the microtubule polymerization conditions as well as perform motility assays with recombinant motors and latex beads.
Dotsevi Sogah (Cornell University) Co-Investigator. Responsibilities include oversight of the fabrication work and address issues regarding substrates, chemical linkages and protein binding.

Project Summary
Most visible forms of movement in eukaryotic cells result from the coordinated interactions of three “motor protein” families and the cell's cytoskeleton. Myosins move along actin filaments to effect muscle contraction and cell crawling. Dyneins and kinesins engage microtubules for endomembrane transport, cell division, and cilia/flagellar beating. Not only do these proteins function in cells, but they can be purified and used to move structures in defined environments in vitro. Our work is geared toward merging the virtually unlimited design architectures offered by nanobiotechnology with these protein-based motors and structural elements to build novel motility devices. These devices will enable investigations of how organelle transport direction is regulated and can be used as a transport framework to direct protein based movement across a surface