High-Speed Rolling Nanoscale Motors

非技术：该奖项由埃默里大学材料研究部生物材料项目颁发，旨在开发制造纳米机器的新原理，这些纳米机器可以消耗化学能来产生机械功。包括发电马达在内的现代机器推动了工业革命，是人类文明的基础。微型微型机器被用于无数的设备，包括手机麦克风、植入式生物传感器和飞机加速度计。进一步小型化到纳米尺度将使机器的设计能够操纵生物分子和其他纳米材料，用于医学、生物研究和材料开发。由于体积小，这种机器通常很难制造。然而，最近DNA折纸领域的蓬勃发展，将DNA折叠成精确的三维结构，现在提供了构建和测试几乎任何三维结构特性的能力。在这项提案中，该团队将研究纳米级DNA机器，并研究提高这些马达的速度和耐力的设计规则。这个项目的潜在影响可能是开发更高效的纳米级电机，这些电机可以应用于传感、计算和药物输送系统。该项目将把研究工作与推广活动结合起来，旨在促进公众对纳米级机器的了解。教育活动包括K-12外展，招募代表性不足的学生进入STEM领域。技术：这个项目的目标是研究动态力产生DNA纳米机器的特性。生物马达蛋白通过ATP水解引起的构象变化动态地改变它们与轨道的相互作用，并以微米/秒的速度在许多微米的距离上显示定向运动。在合成材料中重现这些功能是一个具有根本性挑战性的问题，它有可能影响几个领域。这包括下一代合成肌肉、药物输送系统和传感器。因此，推动这一提议的根本问题是，是否有可能制造出能够在高速和长距离上定向移位的人工分子马达。迄今为止，最有前途的合成马达系统涉及基于dna的机器，因为它们具有可预测和可调的沃森-克里克碱基配对。PI实验室发现了一种新型的合成dna马达，其运动速度比目前最先进的马达快1000倍。由于马达的运输机制依赖于沃森-克里克碱基配对和RNA的催化水解，这些马达有可能被小型化到纳米尺度。初步实验支持这一假设。该项目将专门测试DNA纳米马达如何在表面上动态转移的机制。这将需要DNA折纸组装与单分子荧光成像技术相结合。研究，教育和推广工作将整合在一起，虽然他们的重点是发展研究动态力产生的生物材料。几项K-12外展活动，包括利用埃默里大学现有的学生教育体验发展（SEED）计划，将作为该项目更广泛影响的一部分实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical: This award by the Biomaterials Program in the Division of Materials Research to Emory University is intended to develop new principles for creating nanomachines that can consume chemical energy to produce mechanical work. Modern machines, which include force-generating motors, enabled the industrial revolution and are foundational to human civilization. Miniature micromachines are used in countless devices including cell phone microphones, implantable biosensors, and airplane accelerometers. Further miniaturization to the nanometer scale would enable the design of machines that can manipulate biomolecules and other nanomaterials for applications in medicine, biological research, and material development. Such machines are typically difficult to build because of their small size. However, a recent boom in the field of DNA origami, where DNA is folded into precise three-dimensional structures, now provides the ability to build and test the properties of virtually any three-dimensional structure. In this proposal, the team will study nanoscale DNA machines and investigate the design rules to enhance the speed and endurance of these motors. The potential impact of the project could be in developing more efficient nanoscale motors that have applications such as sensing, computation, and drug delivery systems. This project will integrate research efforts with outreach activities designed to advance the public understanding of nanoscale machines. Educational activities include K-12 outreach to recruit underrepresented students into STEM fields. Technical:The goal of this project is to investigate the properties of dynamic force generating DNA nanomachines. Biological motor proteins dynamically alter their interaction with a track through ATP hydrolysis-fueled conformational changes and display directional motion over distances of many microns at micrometer/sec speeds. Recapitulating these functions in synthetic materials is a fundamentally challenging problem that holds the potential to impact several fields. This includes the next generation of synthetic muscles, drug delivery systems, and sensors. Accordingly, the fundamental question driving this proposal is whether it is possible to create artificial molecular motors capable of translocating directionally at high velocities and over long distances. To date, the most promising synthetic motor systems involve DNA-based machines, owing to their predictable and tunable Watson-Crick base pairing. The lab of the PI has discovered a new class of synthetic DNA-based motors that move at a speed that is 1000 times faster than the state-of-the-art. Because the mechanism of motor transport depends on Watson-Crick base-pairing and catalytic hydrolysis of RNA, these motors can be potentially miniaturized to the nanometer length scale. Preliminary experiments support this hypothesis. The project will specifically test the mechanism of how DNA nanomotors dynamically translocate across a surface. This will require the integration of DNA origami assembly coupled with single molecule fluorescence imaging techniques. The research, education, and outreach efforts will be integrated though their emphasis on developing studying dynamic force-generating biomaterials. Several K-12 outreach activities that include leveraging the existing Student Educational Experience Development (SEED) program at Emory will be implemented as part of the broader impacts of the project.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.