The Molecular motor and bionano-group

Our research

The main objectives are to:

A. Understand the basis for the high degree of perfection of striated muscle such as high power output and high resistance to stretch, particularly:

• The role of cooperative phenomena emerging when molecular motors work together in an ordered arrangement such as the muscle sarcomere
• The role of structural changes in the actin filaments
• The importance of three-dimensional order between actin and myosin

B. Gain insight into the role of the ordered sarcomere arrangement in the functional disturbances seen in response to drugs and severe diseases such as cardiomyopathies, the leading cause of sudden death in otherwise healthy young individuals.

C. Use the muscle proteins actin and myosin for nanotechnological applications:

• Nanoseparation and novel detection schemes in diagnostics, e.g. of cancer
• Biocomputation to solve otherwise intractable parallel computation problems (Further reading) 

Projects

Bio4Comp

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732482
Pressrelease 20170320

The complex molecular gear-box of muscle

In collaboration with H Linke (Lund), DE Rassier (McGill) and JA Spudich (Stanford).
Here we develop techniques for myosin expression in mammalian cell systems and for measuring single molecule ATP turnover and forces from small ensembles of isolated proteins. The methods will be used to elucidate poorly understood fundamental properties myosin motor groups interacting with actin filaments and to test hypotheses about how myosin mutations cause diseases of the heart. The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council.

Guiding of transport through nanonetworks using light-controlled molecular motors

Collaboration with Z Bryant (Stanford) and H Linke (Lund) aiming to exploit remote controlled myosin motors in nanotechnological applications. This project has received funding from the Carl Trygger Foundation.

SMART>SOS

The collaboration with the artist Tim Otto Roth continues within the VERTIGO project. VERTIGO is a project supported by the H2020 STARTS program of the European Commission.

Collaborators

• Professor Heiner Linke, Lund University, Sweden.
• Professor Stefan Diez, Technical University of Dresden, Germany.
• Professor Dan Nicolau, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
• Professor Dilson Rassier, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
• Professor Georgios Tsiavaliaris, Hannover Medical School, Germany.
• Professor Geertruy teKronnie, Padova University, Italy.
• Dr Saroj Kumar, New Delhi University of Technology, India

Publications