{"651600":{"#nid":"651600","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Biomolecular Engineer Wins Grant to Make Microorganism-Inspired Machines","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhat do the cylinder in an internal combustion engine and the four-millimeter-long creature, \u003Cem\u003ESpirostomum ambiguum\u003C\/em\u003E, have in common? Surprisingly, quite a bit. Both are similarly shaped. Both shrink to a fraction of their size in an instant. And both release about the same amount of power output per cubic centimeter in volume. But for all we know about the engine, we know relatively little about the living organism.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESaad Bhamla, a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech, recently received an \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/reporter.nih.gov\/search\/Oknss65S00GZ6zWXumkEyw\/project-details\/10273361\u0022\u003EOutstanding Investigator Award\u003C\/a\u003E from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health, to continue\u0026nbsp;studying\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ESpirostomum\u003C\/em\u003E and attempt to build machines based on similar principles. The grant will provide his research group with $1.98 million in funding over five years.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor Bhamla, the comparison between the organism and the engine is more than just an analogy. He is now working to build something directly akin to a micro-engine, with pistons and cylinders made out of synthetic cells similar to \u003Cem\u003ESpirostomum\u003C\/em\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;That\u0026#39;s basically the stuff of my dreams,\u0026rdquo; Bhamla said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOnce built, he believes that these molecular engines might prove far more efficient than other miniaturized power sources. The chief difficulty will be making a synthetic cell that functions like \u003Cem\u003ESpirostomum\u003C\/em\u003E, Bhamla said. Today, most synthetic cells do very different things, like\u0026nbsp;producing lab-grown meat.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We still think of them as basically bags of fluid,\u0026rdquo; said Bhamla. \u0026ldquo;They don\u0026#39;t move, they just hang around in test tubes.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOver the last few years, Bhamla and colleagues have learned more about how \u003Cem\u003ESpirostomum\u003C\/em\u003E works. Its capabilities come from its use of an unconventional fuel, calcium, rather than adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecule that powers most human cells.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/854836v1.full\u0022\u003Epreprint\u003C\/a\u003E from 2019, Bhamla and Xinjing Xu, then an undergraduate student at Georgia Tech, figured out exactly what makes the organism contract. They found that when calcium binds to \u003Cem\u003ESpirostomum\u0026rsquo;s\u003C\/em\u003E skeletal mesh, it forces each cell of the skeleton to coil tight.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne of Bhamla\u0026rsquo;s current doctoral students, Xiangting Lei, is already examining how to replicate this mechanism in a synthetic cell. She is investigating how to give the cell external triggers so that engineers can make it contract whenever they want. Bhamla plans to use the funds from the grant to hire several more graduate students to study these systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe goal is to create modern versions of what were historically known as mechanochemical\u0026nbsp;machines. A rich literature on these chemically-powered machines had been created in the sixties, only to be forgotten, Bhamla said. It seemed to be a classic case of science getting ahead of itself.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;They didn\u0026#39;t have the right optical tools and soft materials to do this,\u0026rdquo; said Bhamla. \u0026ldquo;This is a great time to revisit [the research] because I think this time, we might be able to have much more success.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout Georgia Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its nearly 40,000 students representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"To make a micro-robot that moves, look to what nature does, first."}],"uid":"35899","created_gmt":"2021-10-12 13:49:11","changed_gmt":"2021-10-13 14:05:51","author":"Mordechai Rorvig","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-10-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-10-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"651598":{"id":"651598","type":"image","title":"Saad Bhamla 001","body":null,"created":"1634045637","gmt_created":"2021-10-12 13:33:57","changed":"1634045637","gmt_changed":"2021-10-12 13:33:57","alt":"","file":{"fid":"247219","name":"DSC_3036.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/DSC_3036.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/DSC_3036.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":449663,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/DSC_3036.jpg?itok=fwUB9O-L"}}},"media_ids":["651598"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMordechai Rorvig\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nSenior Science Writer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["mrorvig@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}