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Award Abstract #0209687
NER: Oligonucleotide-Directed Alignment of Cytoskeletal Filaments for Nanoscale Assembly
| NSF Org: |
IOS
Division of Integrative Organismal Systems
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| Initial Amendment Date: |
July 31, 2002 |
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| Latest Amendment Date: |
July 31, 2002 |
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| Award Number: |
0209687 |
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| Award Instrument: |
Standard Grant |
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| Program Manager: |
Marc D. Servetnick
IOS Division of Integrative Organismal Systems
BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences
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| Start Date: |
September 15, 2002 |
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| Expires: |
August 31, 2004 (Estimated) |
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| Awarded Amount to Date: |
$95000 |
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| Investigator(s): |
William Hancock wohbio@engr.psu.edu (Principal Investigator)
Jeffrey Zahn (Co-Principal Investigator)
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| Sponsor: |
Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
110 Technology Center Building
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA 16802 814/865-1372
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| NSF Program(s): |
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING,
NANOSCALE: EXPLORATORY RSRCH,
PARTICULATE &MULTIPHASE PROCES
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| Field Application(s): |
0000099 Other Applications NEC
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
BIOT, 9183, 5500, 5345, 1676, 1415, 1192
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| Program Element Code(s): |
5345, 1676, 1415
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ABSTRACT
NER: Oligonucleotide-directed alignment of cytoskeletal
filaments for nanoscale assembly
There is currently great interest in nanoscience and nanotechnology for manipulating material at submicron scales. In cells, however, this is a routine task -- the transport of intracellular cargo is carried out by motor proteins that move along cytoskeletal filaments called microtubules. Directional movement is achieved because microtubules have a structural polarity and motors move unidirectionally along them, with different motors moving in different directions. We seek to: (i) reconstruct the intracellular transport system in vitro using purified kinesin motor proteins and microtubules, and (ii) use it to transport defined cargo (biological or synthetic nanoscale objects) to specific sites on a two-dimensional substrate. To lay down microtubule tracks with desired orientations, we will take advantage of the specificity and reversibility of DNA hybridization as a "molecular glue". Single-stranded DNA oligonucleotides will be attached to defined sites on glass surfaces and complementary oligonucleotides will be covalently attached to microtubules. By making microtubules whose ends are functionalized with different DNA sequences and spatially patterning their sequence complements, a variety of microtubule geometries will be investigated. These tracks will be used to direct the motion of cargo-laden kinesin motors as a step towards building systems for biomolecular separations or directed assembly applications.
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