关键词：生物物理机制；棘轮现象；自动化微型机械；化学纳米机械
摘 要：In my work I have theoretically explored the biophysical mechanisms and energy landscapes that give rise to the ratcheting phenomena and devised devices that operate off these principles. I demonstrate two generations of devices that produce mechanical force/deformation in response to a user specified ligand. The first generation devices, fabricatied using a combination nanoscale lithographic processes and bioconjugation techniques, were used to provide evidence that the proposed ratcheting phenomena can be exploited in synthetic architectures. Second generation devices fabricated using self-assembled DNA/hapten motifs were constructed to gain a precise understanding of ratcheting dynamics and design constraints. In addition, the self-assembled devices enabled fabrication en masse, which I feel will alleviate future experimental hurdles in analysis and facilitate its adaptation to technologies. The product of these efforts is an architecture that has the potential to enable numerous technologies in biosensing and drug delivery. For example, the coupling of molecule-specific actuation to the release of drugs or signaling molecules from nanocapsules or porous materials could be transformative. Such architectures could provide possible avenues to pressing issues in biology and medicine: drugs could eventually be triggered to release in the presence of molecular signals indicative of diseased states, early disease detection could be achieved by examining the cell microenvironment then releasing imaging agents and generalized control could exerted over the free molecule signaling networks of cells.