Accelerated Degradation of Active Nanosystems by Biomolecular Motors

生物分子马达加速活性纳米系统的降解

• 批准号: 0926790
• 负责人: Henry Hess
• 金额: $ 33万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0926790&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Accelerated; Degradation; Active; Nanosystems; Biomolecular

The research objective of this award is to develop an understanding of the degradation pathways of active nanosystems. At the macroscale, a car engine will rust when inactive, but wear out when running. Similarly, active nanosystems which incorporate mechanical motion degrade faster when activated. This project will utilize molecular shuttles, nanoscale transport systems powered by the motor protein kinesin, as a model system. Microfabricated guiding structures will be used to exert defined, cyclic loads on the moving shuttles, and optical microscopy will be employed to observe the breaking of the central part of the shuttle. Investigating degradation within these active nanostructures explores new ground, since the molecular shuttle system is too large to be readily described in atomic-level terms of force-activated dissociation of single bonds, but too small to apply macroscopic concepts of wear and fatigue. Thus a mesoscale view of these systems on the nanoscale is required and will be developed through a combination of experiment,simulation, and theory. The result of this research will be an improved understanding of wear and fatigue at the nanoscale. This understanding is on one hand critical for the design of durable devices which can function for their intended lifetime without failure. On the other hand, degradation products may be released from the system, similar to the ?brake dust? created from brake pads in a car. To assess the potential environmental and toxicological impact of active nanosystems it is therefore important to understand how the nanosystem evolves over its lifetime and ultimately fails. While this research is only a first step towards understanding these complex processes, it will ? if successful ? create a template for the evaluation of other active nanosystems and provide a basic scientific framework to understand these degradation processes.

该奖项的研究目标是加深对活性纳米系统降解途径的了解。从宏观上看，汽车发动机在不工作时会生锈，但在运行时会磨损。同样，包含机械运动的活性纳米系统在激活时降解速度更快。该项目将利用分子穿梭机，即由马达蛋白驱动蛋白驱动的纳米级运输系统，作为模型系统。微加工的引导结构将用于在移动的梭子上施加限定的循环载荷，并且将使用光学显微镜来观察梭子中心部分的断裂。研究这些活性纳米结构内的降解探索了新的领域，因为分子穿梭系统太大，无法用单键的力激活解离的原子级术语来描述，但又太小，无法应用磨损和疲劳的宏观概念。因此，需要在纳米尺度上对这些系统进行介观观察，并将通过实验、模拟和理论的结合来开发。这项研究的结果将是加深对纳米尺度磨损和疲劳的理解。一方面，这种理解对于耐用设备的设计至关重要，这些设备可以在预期寿命内正常运行而不会出现故障。另一方面，降解产物可能会从系统中释放出来，类似于“刹车粉尘”。由汽车刹车片制成。因此，为了评估活性纳米系统的潜在环境和毒理学影响，了解纳米系统在其生命周期中如何演变并最终失效非常重要。虽然这项研究只是理解这些复杂过程的第一步，但它会吗？如果成功？创建一个评估其他活性纳米系统的模板，并提供一个基本的科学框架来理解这些降解过程。