Molecular biophysics articles within Nature Materials

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• Article
  26 May 2022 | Open Access

  3D printed protein-based robotic structures actuated by molecular motor assemblies

  Three-dimensional printed protein-based robotic structures are actuated by exoskeleton-like coats of molecular motor assemblies upon the spatially targeted release of chemical fuel, resulting in micrometre-scale shape-morphing activity.

  • Haiyang Jia
  • , Johannes Flommersfeld
  •  & Petra Schwille

• News & Views | 28 July 2021

  Muscle on demand

  Light-activated protein actuators composed of bioengineered motors and molecular scaffolds achieve millimetre-scale mechanical work, which holds promise for microrobotics applications.

  • Henry Hess

• Article | 19 April 2021

  A printable active network actuator built from an engineered biomolecular motor

  Patterned contracting networks composed of biomolecular motors and filaments achieve millimetre-scale actuation of mechanical structures with light-triggered molecular stimuli.

  • Takahiro Nitta
  • , Yingzhe Wang
  •  & Yuichi Hiratsuka

• Article | 06 January 2020

  Syndecan-4 tunes cell mechanics by activating the kindlin-integrin-RhoA pathway

  A mechanism of cell response to localized tension shows that syndecan-4 synergizes with EGFR to elicit a mechanosignalling cascade that leads to adaptive cell stiffening through PI3K/kindlin-2 mediated integrin activation.

  • Antonios Chronopoulos
  • , Stephen D. Thorpe
  •  & Armando E. del Río Hernández

• News & Views | 22 July 2019

  Mastering their own fates through the matrix

  With their ability to give rise to many different cell types, stem cells have long been a target of scientists who seek to achieve control over their differentiation. New evidence suggests that stem cells influence their own fates through protein deposition and physical remodelling of their microenvironment.

  • Eric L. Qiao
  • , Sanjay Kumar
  •  & David V. Schaffer

• News & Views | 19 June 2019

  Platelet mechanosensing axis revealed

  An intermediate affinity state of integrin α_IIBβ₃ has been identified to be a key player in platelet mechanosignalling.

  • X. Frank Zhang
  •  & Xuanhong Cheng

• Article | 25 March 2019

  An integrin α_IIbβ₃ intermediate affinity state mediates biomechanical platelet aggregation

  An intermediate affinity state of integrins on platelets has been identified to be induced by a biomechanical activation pathway and is shown to promote platelet aggregation.

  • Yunfeng Chen
  • , Lining Arnold Ju
  •  & Cheng Zhu

• Article | 02 July 2018

  Non-specific interactions govern cytosolic diffusion of nanosized objects in mammalian cells

  Nanoparticle diffusion in the cytoplasm of living cells strongly deviates from random motion. Single-particle tracking analysis show that this is due to non-specific interactions with intracellular components.

  • Fred Etoc
  • , Elie Balloul
  •  & Mathieu Coppey

• News & Views | 22 October 2015

  Encoding phase transitions

  Intrinsically disordered protein polymers can be designed to encode tunable lower or upper critical solution temperatures in physiological solutions.

  • Alex S. Holehouse
  •  & Rohit V. Pappu

• News & Views | 24 October 2014

  Playful topology

  The combination of topological constraints and deformability in an active system of microtubules and molecular motors leads to rich dynamic behaviour.

  • Julia M. Yeomans

• Research Highlights | 21 March 2014

  Intermolecular intrusions

  • Alison Stoddart

• News & Views | 23 October 2013

  Sharing the force

  Cells can sense their environment by applying and responding to mechanical forces, yet how these forces are transmitted through the cell's cytoskeleton is largely unknown. Now, a combination of experiments and computer simulations shows how forces applied to the cell cortex are synergistically shared by motor proteins and crosslinkers.

  • Andreas R. Bausch
  •  & Ulrich S. Schwarz

• News & Views | 15 December 2010

  Contracting to stiffness

  Atomic force microscopy experiments on individual blood platelets reveal their dynamic contractile response to varied stiffness of the substrate.

  • Allen Ehrlicher
  •  & John H. Hartwig