| Catalog description
Current topics dealing with intracellular and extracellular
transport, including ion channels, molecular motors, the mechanics
of DNA, microtubules, flagella dynamics, locomotion, collective
behavior, infection, signaling.
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
What it's about
Course content will vary from year to year. In 2001, the
theme was Protein Dynamics, focusing on the recent measurements
of the mechanical properties of single proteins. Through reading
the literature, we became acquainted with laser tweezers and
atomic-force microscope measurements, most notably on the
muscle protein titin. The fundamental molecular processes
underlying intermolecular forces and protein folding were
presented and used to build simple models to compare with
the published data on protein behavior.
Lectures:
Class topics
Textbook:
Mechanics of Motor Proteins and
the Cytoskeleton, Jonathon Howard (2001). |
It is possible to do
mechanical experiments on single protein molecules and measure
the applied force needed to achieve a certain change in protein
length. Theories to reproduce these findings have been developed,
though our general understanding of protein dynamics is still
rudimentary. |
