Molecular motors-based micro- and nano-biocomputation devices

  • Authors:

  • Dan V. Nicolau;Dan V. Nicolau, Jr.;Gerardin Solana;Kristi L. Hanson;Luisa Filipponi;Lisen Wang;Abraham P. Lee

  • Affiliations:

  • Bionanoengineering Laboratories, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, Vic. 3122, Australia;Advanced Computational Modelling Centre, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld 4068, Australia;Bionanoengineering Laboratories, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, Vic. 3122, Australia;Bionanoengineering Laboratories, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, Vic. 3122, Australia;Bionanoengineering Laboratories, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, Vic. 3122, Australia;Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2715, USA;Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2715, USA

  • Venue:
  • Microelectronic Engineering
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

Protein molecular motors, which are natural nano-machines that convert the chemical energy into mechanical work for cellular motion, muscle contraction and cell division, have been integrated in the last decade in primitive nanodevices based on the motility of nano-biological objects in micro- and nano-fabricated structures. However, the motility of microorganisms powered by molecular motors has not been similarly exploited. Moreover, among the proposed devices based on molecular motors, i.e., nanosensors, nano-mechanical devices and nano-imaging devices, biocomputation devices are conspicuously missing. The present contribution discusses, based on the present state of the art nano- and micro-fabrication, the comparative advantages and disadvantages of using nano- and micro-biological objects in future computation devices.