2009 Research Summary

Nanomechanical Sensors for Chemical Transduction

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Michel Maharbiz and Gabriel Lavella

Novel antibody-antigen zipper architectures can be used to create nanomachines capable of mechanical actuation in response to biomolecular signals. We theorize that an actuator based on this architecture, when coupled to nanocapsules or pores, can provide a platform for artificial cell signaling, and inherently offer a sophisticated level of control over cell signaling networks. A device such as this would find many applications, including feedback-controlled and targeted drug delivery, sophisticated methods for disease diagnosis, and new techniques for systems biology research.

Figure 1: Conceptual overview of artificial signal transduction using an Ab-Ag nanozipper