Motors in Biological News

Microbot motors fit to swim human arteries

A range of complex surgical operations necessary to treat stroke victims, confront hardened arteries or address blockages in the bloodstream are about to be made safer as researchers from the Micro/Nanophysics Research Laboratory at Australia's Monash University put the final touches to the design...

Silicon Valley Technology Leaders LaserCard Corporation and Tesla Motors Sign LaserPass Secure Access Deal

LaserCard Launches ID Badge Fulfillment Service MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LaserCard Corporation (Nasdaq: LCRD ) and Tesla Motors announce the successful implementation of an optical memory card-based LaserPass Secure Access System for Tesla's corpora...

Molecular motors and brakes work together in cells

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that microtubules -- components responsible for shape, movement, and replication within cells -- use proteins that act as molecular motors and brakes to organize into their correct structure. If microtubules are not fo...

Ferns provide model for tiny motors powered by evaporation

Scientists looked to ferns to create a novel energy scavenging device that uses the power of evaporation to move itself---materials that could provide a method for powering micro and nano devices with just water or heat. "We've shown that this idea works," said Michel Maharbiz, assistant professo...

Biological motors sort molecules one by one on a chip

Researchers from Delft University of Technology's Kavli Institute of Nanoscience have discovered how to use the motors of biological cells in extremely small channels on a chip. Based on this, they built a transport system that uses electrical charges to direct the molecules individually. To demons...

Discovery of agile molecular motors could aid in treating motor neuron diseases

(Philadelphia, PA) - Over the last several months, the labs of Yale Goldman, MD, PhD, Director of the Pennsylvania Muscle Institute at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Erika Holzbaur, PhD, Professor of Physiology, have published a group of papers that, taken together, show pro...

Molecular Motors Cooperate In Moving Cellular Cargo, Study Shows

Researchers using an extremely fast and accurate imaging technique have shed light on the tiny movements of molecular motors that shuttle material within living cells. The motors cooperate in a delicate choreography of steps, rather than engaging in the brute-force tug of war many scientists had im...

1-finger exercise reveals unexpected limits to dexterity

...yday function to disease and injury in spite of the many muscles and joints we have. "In addition, they suggest to engineers that adding redundant motors to robots may actually be the key to making them dexterous." The detailed interactions among muscles and body mechanics are complex and defy easy ...

Slicing chromosomes leads to new insights into cell division

...ejection forces are thought to arise out of the interaction between protein motors on the arms of chromosomes that push against cells' microtubules. Microtubu... as intracellular structural supports and as railways along which molecular motors move cargoes such as chromosomes. Hunt's group hypothesized that polar e...

Scientists find formula to uncover our planet's past and help predict its future

...ld not be recorded." These could include, not only climate change and ecology, but also contexts such as populations at risk from epidemics and rocket motors for new space crew exploration vehicles. ...

Healing wounds with lasers, vehicles that drive themselves, other cutting-edge optics

...California driving rules. Of the 89 international teams that entered the challenge, only six finished in the allotted time. Wende Zhang of General motors was part of the team that designed the winning vehicle, which finished with the fastest time -- an average speed of approximately 13 miles per hour. T...

Development of an artificial simulator of the nervous system to do research into diseases

...ar 2002 in order to get that robots have similar movement skills to those of the animals, and can also perceive a great number of signs of sensors and motors in order to draw cognitive notions. Eduardo Ros Vidal insists that SENSOPAC a project which also has the participation of DLR (German Aerospace Ag...

Autopilot guides proteins in brain

... for sending them (axons). The electrical properties of each depend on different proteins. But the proteins travel in bubbles, or vesicles, powered by motors known as kinesins that travel along tiny molecular paths. Even though the paths point to both axons and dendrites, dendritic proteins end up in den...

Study of protein structures reveals key events in evolutionary history

... All proteins contain domains that can be identified by their structural and functional similarities to one another. These domains are the gears and motors that allow the protein machinery to work. Every protein has one or more of them, and very different proteins can contain the same, or similar, domains...

Biofuels can provide viable, sustainable solution to reducing petroleum dependence

... LIVERMORE, Calif. An in-depth study by Sandia National Laboratories and General motors Corp. has found that plant and forestry waste and dedicated energy crops could sustainably replace nearly a third of gasoline use by the year 2030. ...

$300,000 donation from BP includes solar vehicle for UH

...e environment and renewable energy sources is a great example of social responsibility in action." The BP solar buggy is equipped with two electric motors with 30 horsepower, delivering more than 170 pounds of torque and making it one of the most powerful all-terrain vehicles available in its category. ...

Cell 'anchors' required to prevent muscular dystrophy

...s also discovered that ankB stabilized a set of structures found in all cells, called microtubules. These structures are like tracks for the molecular motors that carry the dystrophin molecules from the site where they are made to their specific destination. Ankyrin B helps microtubules align so dystrophin ...

Mayo Clinic: Brain disorder suggests common mechanism may underlie many neurodegenerative diseases

...hat view, they say. For example, in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a motor neuron disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, the molecular motors (for example, dynein, dynactin and kinesin) that drive transport from distant nerve terminals to the cell body may become defective. In some forms of...

Dartmouth researchers find new protein function

...le of the Nonmotile Kinesin NOD Allows Microtubule End Tracking and Drives Chromosome Movement." "Before this study, it had been shown that kinesin motors either walked along their microtubule tracks or functioned to break microtubules apart," says Jon Kull, the senior author on the paper, associate prof...

Viruses, start your engines!

...so called capsids. Not all viruses have a motor such as the one found in the T4 virus, but some viruses that cause human diseases posses molecular motors with similar functions, and likely have similar structures. T4 uses its motor to pack about 171,000 basepairs of genetic information to near-crystalli...

Biologists learn structure, mechanism of powerful 'molecular motor' in virus

...s, including the human herpes virus. "Molecular motors in double-stranded DNA viruses have never been sho...ely twice as powerful as an automotive engine. The motors generate 20 times the force produced by the protei...gs that would interfere with the function of these motors and mitigate the result of some viral infections. ...

2009 DOE INCITE projects allocated at ORNL

...he INCITE program. The 2009 roster reflects ORNL's ongoing relationship with partners throughout private industry. A team led by Jihui Yang of General motors is exploring materials that will be able to convert a vehicle's waste heat into electricity. Cleaner aircraft gas turbine engines will be the focus of...

Nanoparticles in the home: More and smaller than previously detected

...roduction of UFP by indoor sources. Many common small appliances such as hair dryers, steam irons and electric power tools include heating elements or motors that may produce UFP. People often use these small appliances at close range for relatively long times, so exposure could be large even if the emissio...

Wake Forest plays integral role in effort to revolutionize vehicle safety

...ant and customize the response for that individual." GHBMC members who currently form the Consortium include Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co., General motors Corp., Honda R&D Co., Hyundai Motor Co., Nissan Motor Corp. Ltd., PSA Peugeot-Citroen, Renault s.a.s., Takata Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and TRW Automo...

NIH extends commitment to transformative research with 2008 Pioneer, New Innovator Awards

... assistant professor of cell biology, who will couple genetics with biophysics to discover biomedically important molecules that control how molecular motors deliver diverse cargo to the right place at the right time within cells. Erik M. Shapiro, Ph.D., Yale University School of Medicine assistant prof...

Dense tissue promotes aggressive cancers

...players in mechanotransduction. Weaver and colleagues confirmed that myosin motors are involved in sparking more degradation by invadopodia in response to a rigid matrix, though the motors themselves are not present in the drilling structures. The investigators a...

Scientists overcome nanotech hurdle

....g. proteins and RNA. These are able to form dynamic and efficient nanomachines such as the cell's protein assembly machine (the ribosome) and minute motors used for swimming by bacteria. The BBSRC-funded team, led by Dr Raphal Lvy, has borrowed from nature, developing a way of constructing complex nanosc...

'Smart' materials get smarter with ability to better control shape and size

...ding ions caused contraction of the tether holding the microsphere. Structures such as these could be used to create better micro- and nano-valves, motors and optics. Shear says a great advantage of the hydrogels is that they are well suited for controlling and growing cells dynamically and in the env...

Toad research could leapfrog to new muscle model

...werful burst to propel the user forward. By mimicking biology, we are able to build a very lightweight and functional device," Sugar said. "Putting motors and springs together in a smart way is something nature hit on about 600 million years ago (with the earliest vertebrates)," Nishikawa said. It's a...

Biosensing nanodevice to revolutionize health screenings

...ciences details the technology that would allow this. Their publication Single-molecule detection of DNA via sequence-specific links between F1-ATPase motors and gold nanorod sensors was recently published in the journal Lab on a Chip, and featured in the online journal Chemical Biology produced by the Roya...

Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, March 2008

...Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov ] INDUSTRY -- Wireless sleuths . . . Wireless systems able to monitor and perform diagnostics on motors used in industrial processes could improve production efficiency by 10 percent to 20 percent, according to Wayne Manges of Oak Ridge National Laborato...

Researchers probe a DNA repair enzyme

...unique structural domain containing iron. The findings appear in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Helicases are a special category of molecular motors that modify DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid, the fundamental building block of genes and chromosomes). They do so by moving along strands of DNA, much the ...

GM, Coskata partnership builds on Oklahoma State University biofuels research

...newable energy company and one of the nations foremost automakers. Biology based renewable energy company Coskata Inc. and automotive giant General motors announced their cooperative plans to reduce fossil fuel consumption this past weekend, thanks in part to Coskatas next generation ethanol process base...

How molecular muscles help cells divide

...out a small number of filaments composed of the protein actin. The filaments grow in random directions until they encounter another node, where myosin motors in the contacted node pull on the actin filament, bringing the two nodes together. However, the researchers found that each connection is broken i...

Vega main engine test in Kourou

...the end of 2008. The P80 motor is about 12 metres high and 3 metres in diameter, and is loaded with 88 tonnes of solid propellant. Unlike previous motors of this size, it contains a single propellant segment, instead of several segments cast separately before being mated together. Taking advantage o...

Gene-targeting pioneer Mario Capecchi shares 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine

...Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience Research (1992), Gairdner Foundation International Award for Achievements in Medical Science (1993), General motors Corporations Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Prize for Outstanding Basic Science Contributions to Cancer Research (1994), Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences (1996), th...

Census of protein architectures offers new view of history of life

...led domains, which can be identified by their structural and functional similarities to one another. Protein domains are the gears, belts, springs and motors that allow the larger protein machinery to function as it should. Every protein contains one or more of them, and proteins that perform very different...

Simulation reveals how body repairs balance after damage

...plied to a robot, these neural communication patterns allowed the robot to successfully move fluidly like an animal, in contrast to what its gears and motors might suggest. The robot demonstrates all of the different strategies that could be used by normal and sensory-loss patients. This finding will cha...

Neural stem cell study reveals mechanism that may play role in cancer

...ers in 2004 to allocate $3 billion over 10 years to support stem cell research. Scientists have known that migration of neurons depends in part on motors within the cells that drive their movement along the neural stem cell fibers. They have also known that this migration depends on receptors on the neu...

ESF EURYI award winner aims to stop cancer cells reading their own DNA

...e in anti-cancer therapy by blocking the molecular motors involved in copying genetic information during cel...umor development by interfering with the molecular motors that copy DNA during cell division. This will cut ... IB that plays a key role in some of the molecular motors involved in the processes of DNA and RNA copying d...