Collaborative Research: Understanding Thermal-Noise-Based Mechanisms for Intracellular Motion, with Application to Engineered Systems

新出现的设计大量小颗粒同时定向运动的能力，从微米到大分子，将在医学、电子和生物材料的不同领域产生巨大影响。这种定向运动是正常细胞内功能的组成部分，在这种运动中，马达蛋白质将周围的电化学势和随机的热搅拌转化为运动，并充当微小的货物拖拉机。该项目将借鉴和借鉴这些生物机制，以建立一个框架，促进大量微米和亚微米粒子的有力和有效的集体运动。为该项目创建的创新仪器将探测作用于马达蛋白质的力。微米级粒子工程化运动的实现将为电子和生物医学带来新的材料。新的分析技术将用于相关研究，例如细胞运输故障在疾病中的作用。该项目将采用以下两种基于布朗棘轮的方法来获得用于在微观尺度上运输货物的强大而高效的机构：(I)塑造光场以准确地实现所需的势能景观，从而使布朗棘轮机构能够在噪声允许有用的工作的情况下，以及(Ii)了解生物组件，如马达蛋白质和微管如何利用布朗棘轮来实现运动，并使用这些结构来移动工程货物。光学棘轮机构将利用现代控制技术实现。为了研究生物蛋白质的运动，将使用现代控制和系统工具来获得探测器，速度至少比目前最先进的水平快一个数量级。使用光学陷阱研究马达蛋白质的新模式将包括张力和力钳，这将有助于对分子运动的明确解释。为了实现基于布朗棘轮的定向运动，将推导出新颖的光力场开环和闭环控制律。

The emerging ability to engineer the simultaneous directed motion of large numbers of small particles, from micrometer size down to large molecules, will have tremendous impact in diverse areas of medicine, electronics and bio-materials. Such directed motion is an integral part of normal intracellular function, where motor proteins convert ambient electrochemical potentials and random thermal agitation into motion and act as tiny cargo haulers. This project will learn from and build upon these biological mechanisms, to create a framework for facilitating robust and efficient collective motion of large numbers of microscale and submicroscale particles. Innovative instrumentation created for this project will probe forces acting on motor proteins. Realization of engineered motion of microscale particles will lead to new materials for electronics and biomedicine. The new analytical techniques will find use in related studies, such as on the role of cellular transport malfunctions in disease. This project will employ the following two Brownian ratchet based approaches to obtain robust and efficient mechanisms for transporting cargo at the microscale: (i) shape optical fields to accurately realize desired potential energy landscapes that enable Brownian ratchet mechanisms where noise enables useful work, and (ii) understand how biological components such as motor proteins and microtubules employ Brownian ractchets to achieve motion, and use these constructs for moving engineered cargo. Optical ratchet mechanisms will be realized using modern control techniques. For studying bio-protein motion, modern controls and systems tools will be used to obtain probes at least an order of magnitude faster than the present state-of-the-art. New modes of investigating motor proteins using optical traps will include tension and force clamps, which will facilitate unambiguous interpretation of molecular motion. Innovative open- and closed-loop control laws for optical force fields will be derived to realize Brownian ratchet based directed motion.