William Hancock
Associate Professor
229 Hallowell Building
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: 814-865-0492 / Fax: 814-863-0490
E-mail: wohbio@engr.psu.edu
Personal Website: http://www.bioe.psu.edu/labs/Hancock-Lab/index.html
Education
Ph.D. Bioengineering University of Washington, Seattle, 1994
Research Interests
The intracellular environment is very dynamic, with organelles and vesicles moving to and fro and material being transported to various regions of the cell. The molecules responsible for this movement are motor proteins, which use chemical energy to move along cytoskeletal tracks. The focus of my lab is to understand the detailed workings of motor proteins and their role in intracellular transport and cell motility.
We are concentrating on the kinesin superfamily of microtubule-based motors, which are involved in broad array of cellular processes including axonal transport, the positioning of intracellular organelles, and the movement of chromosomes during cell division. Kinesins share a ~340 amino acid motor domain (the head), and members of the family utilize the motor domain in various ways - to move towards the plus- or minus-ends of microtubules (towards the cell periphery or center, respectively), or even to depolymerize microtubules.
Kinesins are especially interesting because they lie at the interface of biochemistry and mechanics at the level of a single protein molecule. To study these motors we are using the tools of modern molecular biology to isolate and express specific portions of the motors, and then using a two-pronged attack of enzyme kinetic and motility measurements along with computational modeling to analyze the biochemical and mechanical function of these mutant motors. We are especially interested in Kinesin-2 motors (also called KIF3A/B), which are involved in intraflagellar transport among other tasks. These motors are distinctive because they contain two different motor domains instead of the usual homodimeric configuration. Specifically, we are studying how the two heads coordinate their activities for processive motility along microtubules.
In addition to these fundamental experiments, we are working to integrate kinesin motors and microtubules into microfabricated devices and interface these proteins with nanoparticles and novel materials. Much of this interdisciplinary work, which is in collaboration with colleagues in Chemistry, Electrical Engineering and other departments, is supported by the PSU Center for Nanoscale Science. One goal is to develop microfluidic devices for analyte detection and molecular sorting that use kinesin-driven transport instead of pressure-driven flow. A second goal is to develop microscale and nanoscale tools to investigate the role of kinesins and microtubules in fundamental cellular process such as cell division.
The eventual goal of this work is to better understand the role of kinesin motors in normal and diseased states, to define targets for future therapeutics, and to establish a building blocks for future nano-scale diagnostic or therapeutic devices.
Selected Publications
Platt, M., G. Muthukrishnan, W.O. Hancock, and M.E. Williams. 2005. Millimeter scale alignment of magnetic nanoparticle functionalized microtubules in magnetic fields. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 127(45):15686-15687.
Huang, Y.M., M. Uppalapati, W.O. Hancock, and T.N. Jackson. 2005. Microfabricated capped channels for biomolecular motor-based transport. IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging, 28(4):564-570.
Zhang, Y. and W.O. Hancock. 2004. The two motor domains of KIF3A/B coordinate for processive motility and move at different speeds. Biophysical Journal 87:1795-1804.
Jia, L., S.G. Moorjani, T.N. Jackson and W.O. Hancock. 2004. Toward a molecular motor based electronics system for bio-transport and detection. Biomedical Microdevices 6(1):67-74.
Moorjani, S.G., L. Jia, T.N. Jackson and W.O. Hancock. 2003. Lithographically patterned channels spatially segregate kinesin motor activity and effectively guide microtubule movements. NanoLetters 3:633-637.
Hancock, W.O. and J. Howard. 2002. Kinesins: Processivity and Chemomechanical Coupling in Motor Proteins, Ed. M. Schliwa, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany. 10:243-269