Using TIRF to examine the assembly of a viral DNA packaging motor
Graduate Student Rashid Riboul
By Rashid Riboul
Phones, music players, and cars: nearly everything these days is getting smaller. Even big screen televisions are smaller and thinner than their ancient counterparts. Now scientists are working on nano motors: machines nanometers thick that are capable doing work.
Although it is unknown how these motors are generally assembled, these powerful motors, based on viral machinery, have massive potential in the nanotechnology field. Scientists are analyzing the structure of the machinery, but no real consensus can be made on the general structure. A radical group of researchers lead by Peixuan Guo at the University of Cincinnati, however, thinks that they have ascertained the structure of the motor.