Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

BIOMOLECULAR ACTUATORS

Muscle on demand

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Materials

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Light-activated protein actuators composed of bioengineered motors and molecular scaffolds achieve millimetre-scale mechanical work, which holds promise for microrobotics applications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1: Pliers closing with active protein networks.
Fig. 2: Motor abundance varies inversely with size and increases as technology progresses.

References

  1. Burridge, K. & Wittchen, E. S. J. Cell. Biol. 200, 9–19 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Nitta, T., Wang, Y., Du, Z., Morishima, K. & Hiratsuka, Y. Nat. Mater. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-00969-6 (2021).

  3. Baughman, R. H. et al. Science 284, 1340–1344 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Haines, C. S. et al. Science 343, 868–872 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Dattler, D. et al. Chem. Rev. 120, 310–433 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Needleman, D. & Dogic, Z. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2, 17048 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Nakamura, M. et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 9, 693–697 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Fennimore, A. M. et al. Nature 424, 408–410 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Burgert, I. & Fratzl, P. Philos. Trans. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. 367, 1541–1557 (2009).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Armstrong, M. J. & Hess, H. ACS Nano 8, 4070–4073 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Henry Hess

Authors
  1. Henry Hess
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Henry Hess.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hess, H. Muscle on demand. Nat. Mater. 20, 1040–1041 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-01069-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-01069-1

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation