Speaker
Description
Despite the second law of thermodynamics and a harsh thermal environment, molecular motors, among their many talents, are capable of directed motion and long range transport within cells. In this talk I will discuss our approach towards understanding how directed and processive motion is achieved at the molecular scale through the synthesis of an artificial molecular motor comprised of no biological motor components. Our system is designed to achieve directed motion through a burnt-bridges ratchet mechanism whereby it cleaves peptide substrate sites as it moves, thereby inhibiting backwards stepping. The substrate sites are presented to the motor as a ‘lawn’ through the tips of a dense polymer brush; we therefore call our artificial motor ‘the Lawnmower’. I will present our preliminary experimental results of the micron-sized lawnmower on a two-dimensional lawn, as well as present our kinetic Monte Carlo simulations which offer design principles for a nano-scaled version [C.S. Korosec et al., Phys. Rev. E, 98(3), 2018].
