Motor proteins convert the chemical energy of ATP hydrolysis into mechanical work. Kinesins walk along microtubules, typically for about a second, moving at ~100 steps/second before dissociating. The Kinesin Superfamily contains 14 different sub-families, whose motors are evolved for their specific cellular tasks and which have different chemomechanical characteristics. We are particularly interested in the kinesin-1, -2, and -3 families of transport motors and the kinesin-5 mitotic motors, but our kinesin interests range far and wide. We employ single-molecule microscopy, stopped-flow kinetics, computational simulations and a range of other tools in our work. Additionally, we collaborate with cell biologists, engineers, mathematicians, and everyone in between.
Relevant Publications
Aging Gracefully: A New Model of Microtubule Growth and Catastrophe. W.O. Hancock. 2015. Biophysical Journal. 109(12): 2449 – 2451
Bidirectional cargo transport: moving beyond tug of war. Hancock W.O. 2014. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 15(9):615-28. PMID: 25118718