Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Microoxen: microorganisms to move microscale loads.

Douglas B Weibel1, Piotr Garstecki, Declan Ryan

  • 1Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|August 17, 2005
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Aging in autism: A systematic review of cognitive, neural, and physical health findings.

Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews·2026
Same author

Visual Cortical Response Variability in Infants at High Familial Likelihood for Autism.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Dissociation Between Subjective Sensory Reactivity and Visual Perceptual Sensitivity in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults: A Brief Report.

Brain and behavior·2025
Same author

Parsing evoked and induced gamma response differences in Autism: A visual evoked potential study.

Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology·2024
Same author

Self-buckling and self-writhing of semi-flexible microorganisms.

Soft matter·2023
Same author

Clodronate detection and effects on markers of bone resorption are prolonged following a single administration to horses.

Equine veterinary journal·2022
Same journal

The TaMYB55-TaSnRK1α1-TabZIP9 module confers heat stress tolerance in wheat.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Superstatistics approach to turbulent circulation fluctuations.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

A molecular timescale for evolution of cobamide biosynthesis.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Pierre Chambon, a pioneer of molecular biology and gene regulation in eukaryotes.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Granulosa cell glycogen fuels the avascular corpus luteum.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Synthetic essentiality of TRAIL/TNFSF10 in VHL-deficient renal cell carcinoma.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
See all related articles

Researchers harnessed intact algae cells as "microoxen" to perform mechanical work. This novel method uses surface chemistry, phototaxis, and photochemistry to transport microscale loads efficiently outside the cell.

Area of Science:

  • Biophysics
  • Cellular mechanics
  • Synthetic biology

Background:

  • Harnessing biological motor power ex vivo is challenging, often requiring complex in vitro systems.
  • Existing methods for capturing nanomotor energy necessitate protein reconstitution and engineering.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a method for utilizing intact cells to perform external mechanical work.
  • To leverage biological motors within whole organisms for practical applications.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a biological micro-machine.
  • Employed surface chemistry for attaching microscale loads (polystyrene beads).
  • Used phototaxis for cell navigation and photochemistry for load release.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Demonstrated transport of 3-microm-diameter beads by Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
  • Achieved transport velocities of approximately 100-200 micrometers per second.
  • Successfully transported loads over distances up to 20 cm.

Conclusions:

  • Intact Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells can be effectively used as
  • microoxen
  • to perform directed mechanical transport of microscale loads.
  • This approach offers a simpler alternative to in vitro methods for harnessing biological motor power.
  • The method shows potential for applications in micro-robotics and targeted delivery systems.