High-Speed Rolling Nanoscale Motors

非技术性：该奖项由埃默里大学材料研究部生物材料项目颁发，旨在开发新的原理，用于制造可以消耗化学能来产生机械功的纳米机器。现代机器，包括动力产生电机，使工业革命成为可能，是人类文明的基础。微型微机械被用于无数设备，包括手机麦克风，植入式生物传感器和飞机加速度计。进一步微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。这种机器通常由于其尺寸小而难以制造。然而，最近DNA折纸领域的蓬勃发展，DNA被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，并调查设计规则，以提高这些电机的速度和耐力。该项目的潜在影响可能是开发更有效的纳米级电机，这些电机具有传感，计算和药物输送系统等应用。该项目将把研究工作与旨在促进公众对纳米级机器的理解的外联活动结合起来。教育活动包括K-12外展活动，以招募代表性不足的学生进入STEM领域。技术：该项目的目标是研究动态力产生DNA纳米机器的特性。生物马达蛋白动态地改变它们与轨道的相互作用，通过ATP水解促进的构象变化，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挑战性的问题，有可能影响多个领域。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，是否有可能创造出能够以高速和长距离定向移位的人工分子马达。迄今为止，最有前途的合成运动系统涉及基于DNA的机器，这是由于它们的可预测和可调的沃森-克里克碱基配对。PI的实验室发现了一类新的基于合成DNA的马达，其移动速度比最先进的速度快1000倍。由于马达运输的机制取决于沃森-克里克碱基配对和RNA的催化水解，这些马达可能被小型化到纳米长度尺度。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移位的机制。这将需要结合DNA折纸组装和单分子荧光成像技术。研究，教育和推广工作将被整合，虽然他们的重点是发展研究动态力产生生物材料。几个K-12外展活动，包括利用现有的学生教育经验发展（SEED）计划在埃默里大学将实施作为该项目的更广泛的影响的一部分。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.