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In the Hancock Lab, we are interested in fundamental and applied questions regarding kinesin motor proteins and microtubules. These protein machines transport intracellular cargo such as vesicles, protein complexes, and chromosomes, throughout eukaryotic cells. Kinesins move along microtubules, 25 nm diameter protein polymers that make up part of the cells cytoskeleton, using the energy of ATP hydrolysis to power their movement.
As Bioengineers, we are interested in how these protein nanomachines work and how their design is optimized for their cellular tasks. We are also interested in applications of the kinesin-microtubule system in MEMS, microfluidics, and novel microengineered systems to study the mechanics of cell division. |
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2009 | Lab
Our recent Current Biology paper was highlighted in a news release:http://live.psu.edu/story/38456 |
2009 | Shankar Shastry
Shankar Shastry presented a poster on Kinesin-2 coordination at the 2009 Biophysical Society Meeting in Boston, MA. |
2008 | Dr. Hancock
Dr. Hancock was recently named an Associate Editor for the new Springer journal "Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering". He will be editing a special issue with Will Guilford (UVA) on Cytoskeleton and Cell Adhesion due out June, 2009. |
August, 2008 | Maruti Uppalapati
Maruti Uppalapati graduated with a PhD in Bioengineering in August, 2008. His thesis brought together microfabrication tools with kinesin motility to investigate microscale transport applications and novel approaches to studying mitotic spindle function. |
May, 2008 | Gayatri Muthukrishnan
Gayatri Muthukrishnan graduated with her PhD in Bioengineering in May, 2008. The bulk of her thesis work focused on measuring Kinesin-2 (KIF3A/B) processivity and understanding differences between the Kinesin-1 and Kinesin-2 hydrolysis cycles using computational modeling. |
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