Kilho Eom's blog

There has been a lot of attention on the study of mechanics of proteins and/or single molecules. Such study was typically implemented by using classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. In spite of ability to describe the dynamics of biological macromolecules (e.g. proteins), MD simulation exhibits the computational restriction in the spatial and temporal scale. In order to overcome such computational limitation, the coarse-grained model has recently been taken into account. In this review, I would take a look at a couple of coarse-grained models of protein molecules.

Microcantilevers have taken much attention as devices for label-free detection of molecules and/or their conformations in solutions and air. Recently, microcantilevers have allowed the nanomechanical mass detection of thin film [1-3], small molecules [4, 5], and biological components such as viruses [6] and vesicles [7] in the order of a pico-gram to a zepto-gram. The great potential of microcantilevers is the sensitive, reliable, fast label-free detection of proteins and/or protein conformations. Specifically, microcantilevers are capable of label-free detection of marker proteins related to diseases, even at a low concentration in solution [8-17]. Microcantilevers, operated in a viscous fluid, have also enabled the real-time monitoring of protein-protein interactions [8, 12-15]. Furthermore, microcantilevers are able to recognize the specific protein conformations [18] and/or reversible conformation changes of proteins/polymers [19, 20].