Over at the Nanotech Briefs’ Nano Test Blog is a post on work by UIUC physicist Paul Selvin showing that myosin VI can act as a molecular transporter:
” ‘We found that, at high enough concentrations, some of the myosin molecules would find one another, they would dimerize, and they would start walking,’ Selvin said…’And, while we have shown that myosin VI can be a transporter, we have not shown that it is a transporter,’ Selvin said. ‘To do that, we have to look inside a living cell.’
“Last year, Selvin’s team used FIONA to track the movements of two other molecular motors, dynein and kinesin, inside living fruit fly cells. ‘FIONA is capable of measuring the movement of myosin VI within living cells,’ Selvin said. ‘We are working on that now.’ ”
Also on the blog are various white papers and lectures, including slides on nanotech medicine (1.1 MB pdf) by Foresight member Richard Smith, in which he examines near-, mid-, and long-term prospects. He projects active self-assembled nanosystem designs by about 2020. —Christine
