Dawn Sasek

IB 535
Summmer 2014
Extra Credit: Energize Your Robot
THE SENTINEL: ATP-POWERED NANOBOT
Introducton:
My robot is designed to be a nanoscale sentinel robot that will be used to detect
cancer cells and destroy them by either mechanical means or by releasing a chemical
cargo load. In my previous posts I described its structure, how the robot will sense the
cancer cells by heat-detection or surface reception. I mentioned in the rst post in week
3 that I would power my robot by using ATP-driven motors. I wasn!t sure if this was
feasible or if any research was being done; I just thought it would be cool since I spend
so much time in AP biology referring to cells as machines and ATP synthase enzyme as
a rotor/motor. The main problems with adding energizing systems to a nanorobot is the
size of the motor. A few extra atoms can have a huge impact on such a small system.
Here is a drawing of my nanobot The Sentinel, that is designed to navigate the
aquatic world of the human bloodstream to detect cancer cells. The inspiration was two
fold: the movement of bacteria and other agellated cells within aquatic media and the
specicity of cell-to cell recognition via surface receptors. (I added heat sensors since
cancer cells are hotter than normal tissue; problems arose with this as normal
inammatory response also produce hot zones.)
The Concept:
Notice the agella-like tails at the end of the robot. They will work in a rotary motion,
just like we discussed in the module 4 (inertia versus drag). The rotary motors are
designed just as in the agella assembly. (You Tube Video Link to Flagellar Motor)
Here is a video of a nanorobot using the articial agella motor:
These videos hopefully provide a nice visual of where I am going with this motorized
nanobot. The problem with energizes the robot is size. Graphene models provide one
possible mechanism, but the motion of the robot relies on application of external
magnetic elds. I saw an article in the Scientic American, written by a Biophysicist, on
the use of ATP to power robots. The scientists suggested the use of catalytic engines
that would allow nanoscale swimmers to harness fuel directly from their environment an
allow the which would make them suited for the strange physics of the "microscopic
world. (Mallouk, 2009)
With a little more research I found a couple of excellent articles that suggested using
hybrid motors called bimolecular machines (Vogel, 2004). Biomolecular motors, as
shown in the agellar video above, are ideally suited to introduce chemically powered
movement of selected components into devices engineered at the micro- and nanoscale
level. Engineers can design hybrids that are part synthetic nanomaterial (graphene,
silicates) attached to biological receptor sites of ATP-binding nucleotides and/or amino
acids. The design of such hybrid bio/nano-devices requires suitable synthetic
components that can form stable ligands or bonds with the organic components.
(Ozin, 2005).
Below are a few diagrams I found from the Biophysics Journals with the biological
version compared with the engineered biophysical hybrid:
Figure 1: This diagram illustrates the structure of common biological motors:
Image: Chem. Eur. J. 2004, 10, 2110 } 2116
I know us biology teachers spend so much time talking about ATP in biology. Here is a
great way to offer an application of how ATP can be used to run a tiny machine inside of
the body. All of this biological motors work by binding ATP, followed by a conformation
change that results in one-directional motion, followed by more ATP-binding, causes
another conformational change, etc. If one were able to attache ATP binding sites using
those amino acids, motion can be realized just as in the biological motors. SEE
FIGURE 2:
Figure 2: Hybrid biological/synthetic motors
Image: Chem. Eur. J. 2004, 10, 2110 } 2116
In the model shown in Figure 2 above, an interface is accomplished between the
synthetic nano-motor (Silicon post, which can also be replaced with carbon nanobers)
and the ATP-Binding domains associated with the enzyme, ATP-ase, which has amino
acid residues capable of binding ATP, which results in the swiveling of the motor head,
just like in any biological motor.
Limitations:
The development of the hybrid ATP-binding motors is limited mainly by surface
chemistry. Getting the organic and inorganic domains to stick together is challenging,
but recent developments are promising. The use of viruses has been suggested and is
being done at MIT already. The viruses are being used to attach metals to organic
complexes based on small electric differences that no man-made machine is capable of
constructing. The machines also must be self-assembling because of we cannot put
atoms together one-by-one; we rely on the self-assembly of basic components, just like
the heirarchy we have been discussing in class.
One phrase that sums up the only obstacles to using biological nanomotorrs to power
robots is provided here:
Overall, the potential of nature!s molecular machines has been recognized, and their
applications in synthetic nanoscale systems will be limited only by our creativity and
imagination. (Hess, 2004)
One nal note: This video from the PBS Series: Extreme Technology discusses many
ways of constructing nanorobots, include much information we have talked about in
class. If you need a cool, hour long video to show your students on nanotechnology,
this might be fun to watch!!
LINK TO EXTREME TECHNOLOGY: NANO ROBOTS

Sources:
Hess, Henry, George D. Bachand, and Viola Vogel. "Powering Nanodevices with Biomolecular Motors." Chemistry -
A European Journal 10.9 (2004): 2110-116
Ozin, G. A., I. Manners, S. Fournier-Bidoz, and A. Arsenault. "Dream Nanomachines." Advanced Materials 17.24
(2005): 3011-018
Qian, Hong. A Little Engine That Could: ATP-Powered Electrical Battery and Heater Inside Cells Biophysical
Journal Volume 103 October 2012 14091410.
Mallouk, T. E., Sen, A. Powering Nanorobots: Catalytic Engines that harness fuel from the environment.
Scientic American Volume 300, Issue 5, May 2009, Pages 72-77
Zhong, Hong, and Nadrian C. Seeman. "RNA Used to Control a DNA Rotary Nanomachine." Nano Letters 6.12
(2006): 2899-903.
Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyycpxd7V5I