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Updated: May 4, 2026

Cargo Loading onto Kinesin Powered Molecular Shuttles
Published on: November 3, 2010
Molecular motor-powered shuttles along multi-walled carbon nanotube tracks
Aurélien Sikora1, Javier Ramón-Azcón, Kyongwan Kim
1WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University , 2-1-1 Katahira, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan.
Abstract:
As a complementary tool to nanofluidics, biomolecular-based transport is envisioned for nanotechnological devices. We report a new method for guiding microtubule shuttles on multi-walled carbon nanotube tracks, aligned by dielectrophoresis on a functionalized surface. In the absence of electric field and in fluid flow, alignment is maintained. The directed translocation of kinesin propelled microtubules has been investigated using fluorescence microscopy. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of microtubules gliding along carbon nanotubes.
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