PROPEL

PROPEL: Designing powerful versatile molecular motors from scratch

Proteins act like tiny machines inside our cells that make life possible. They copy DNA, reshape cell membranes, and move important molecules to where they’re needed. Natural protein motors have evolved to work inside cells, but they aren’t optimized for many new applications scientists envision. Designing and building similar protein machines from the ground up could one day transform medicine and materials science. However, creating these complex systems artificially remains a major scientific challenge.

We aim to tackle the challenge by creating the first fully artificial, powered protein motor, that is designed from scratch and not copied from nature. These tiny motors will travel along specially engineered protein tracks. The proteins will be designed using advanced AI tools and their movement studied using sensitive single-molecule measurements. The proteins will be propelled by a Brownian ratchet principle, where random motion is converted into purposeful, one-directional movement using an energy source and the asymmetry of the track.

Artificially designed protein machines are more stable and easier to control than natural ones, paving the way for advances in bionanotechnology that could eventually enable synthetic cellular systems, highly targeted medical treatments, and even programmable nanorobots.

For more information see this (very general) Q&A: link

Current project members

Selected publications