Tuesday, February 05, 2008

A nanorocket?

This is some brilliant stuff, coupling two complimentary proteins on the surface of a nanotube results in glucose being used as a power source for motion. The product looks safe for biological use and it doesn't take much imagination to picture a control mechanism stashed inside the tube which could block/unblock the two enzymes in order to stop/start the thrust.

Hat tip to Christine at Foresight.

Link

2 Comments:

At 9:39 AM, Blogger Tom said...

I call dibs on modeling it

 
At 10:45 PM, Blogger Guy said...

The tricky part will be getting the bindings right so that the active sites of the enzymes are where they need to be.

An alternative design would be to replace the catalase with an antibody. Linked to the Glucose-Oxidase so it imparts a discontinuity which blocks the GOx. When the antibody grabbed hold of say a bacteria the GOx would become unblocked and start release hydrogen peroxide from glucose. This would both deprive the bacteria of food and expose it to the rather anti-bacterial hydrogen peroxide.

 

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