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Posted on Jun 04, 2005, 6 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
(From Medical News Today). It's never too early to start in on the research that will lead to medical nanorobots of the sort envisaged by Robert Freitas. Advanced nanomedicine will take over from regenerative medicine as science progresses further down the path of extending the healthy human life span - but we are only just getting started today. The first research projects into "wet" nanorobotics are all about developing a technology base on which to build therapeutic applications; this is th
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, and from eight other scientific institutions in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Italy have received 2 Million Euro from the European Union for research on "Active Biomimetic Systems". These systems involve two types of biomolecular nanomachines, growing filaments and stepping motors, which are able to generate force in the nanodomain. The research network, which is coordinated by Prof. Reinhard Lipowsky, will elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying this force generation and will explore new possibilities for the integration of these molecular machines into nano- and microsystems. The network was launched on May 1, 2005.
Biomimetic systems mimic or imitate certain aspects of biological systems. One astounding aspect of biological cells is their ability to undergo dramatic morphological transformations: they can adapt their shape in order to squeeze themselves through very narrow pores, they can extend long `feet' in order to crawl along surfaces, and they can divide themselves up into two daughter cells. All of these transformation processes are based on two types of biomolecular nanomachines: growing filaments and stepping motors.
Both types of nanomachines are constructed from proteins but use distinct mechanisms for force generation. Filaments are rod-like structures with a thickness of about 10 nanometers but a length of many micrometers. One end of the filament grows by the addition of nanometer-sized building blocks and, in this way, generates a pushing force. Stepping motors are proteins with two identical `legs', which are about 10 nanometers in size. When in contact with a filament, such a motor undergoes a certain conformational transformation, a so-called "power stroke", which enables the motor to generate a pulling force.
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Biomimetic systems mimic or imitate certain aspects of biological systems. One astounding aspect of biological cells is their ability to undergo dramatic morphological transformations: they can adapt their shape in order to squeeze themselves through very narrow pores, they can extend long `feet' in order to crawl along surfaces, and they can divide themselves up into two daughter cells. All of these transformation processes are based on two types of biomolecular nanomachines: growing filaments and stepping motors.
Both types of nanomachines are constructed from proteins but use distinct mechanisms for force generation. Filaments are rod-like structures with a thickness of about 10 nanometers but a length of many micrometers. One end of the filament grows by the addition of nanometer-sized building blocks and, in this way, generates a pushing force. Stepping motors are proteins with two identical `legs', which are about 10 nanometers in size. When in contact with a filament, such a motor undergoes a certain conformational transformation, a so-called "power stroke", which enables the motor to generate a pulling force.
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