YouTube video by IINO Group, IMS. Molecular Motors

Nature Nanotechnology, Published online: 06 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41565-026-02210-4An artificial protein walker ‘Tumbleweed’ demonstrates ligand-driven stepping on DNA tracks, marking a key advance toward modular, custom-designed autonomous motor proteins.

Nature Nanotechnology, Published online: 06 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41565-026-02211-3A synthetic three-footed protein walker assembled from non-motor protein domains takes directional steps along a DNA track powered by Brownian ratchet motion driven by free energy transduction from microfluidically delivered ligands.

An artificial protein walker ‘Tumbleweed’ demonstrates ligand-driven stepping on DNA tracks, marking a key advance toward modular, custom-designed autonomous motor proteins.

Over the past decades, protein engineering has matured into a field of its own, driven by computational modeling and high-throughput wet lab experiments, with broad application in therapeutics, diagnostics, agriculture, and manufacturing. In recent years,...

The “neck” region of kinesin is a structurally conserved element critical for force generation, stepping directionality, and cargo transport along mic…

Ratchet mechanisms allow external energy to drive pumping or directional motion on the ground state. An energy ratchet uses external modulation to destroy correlations present at equilibrium and an i...

Biological function is fundamentally determined by nucleic acid and protein sequence. Beyond encoding genetic information, nucleic acids also display complex physicochemical parameters that shape stru...

We introduce meta-amplified dark-field interferometric scattering microscopy, which uses a plasmonic metasurface to enhance sensitivity and contrast by converting nanoparticle-induced phase perturbati...

YouTube video by Beauty of Science

The development of DNA-based machines is transforming fields such as drug delivery and biosensing. Here, design strategies are discussed and key performance metrics — speed, force generation, efficien...

Rhodamine dyes conjugated to targeting ligands can yield exceptionally bright fluorescent probes for live-cell imaging. However, the limited permeability of such rhodamine derivatives restricts their ...

Protein molecules, while functioning, undergo dynamic conformational changes and interactions with their partners, which can be directly observed by high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM). Howeve...

Nucleic acid-based synthetic motors emulate key behaviors of biological machines, enabling applications in biosensing and nanoscale actuation. Among the reported synthetic motors, RNase H-powered moto...

Laser excitation of plasmonic particles represents an attractive avenue to tailor and catalyze surface chemical reactions at the nanoscale. However, it remains unclear how interfacial chemistry is cat...

We report that carbon quantum dots (CQDs) synthesized via a hydrothermal process using anthraquinone derivatives and l-cysteine provide versatile detection modes, making them suitable for various expe...

Despite improved sensitivity of nanothermometers, direct observation of heat transport inside single cells has remained challenging for the lack of high-speed temperature imaging techniques. Here, we ...

Inside cells, molecular motors transport cargo through a highly crowded cytoplasmic environment. While such an environment is assumed to hinder transport, its precise effect remains unclear. Here, we ...

Although metagenomic sequencing has revealed a rich microbial biodiversity in the mammalian gut, methods to genetically alter specific species in the microbiome are highly limited. Here, we introduce ...

npj Viruses - Virion motility of sialoglycan-cleaving respiratory viruses

Influenza viruses can move across the surface of host cells while interacting with their glycocalyx. This motility may assist in finding or forming locations for cell entry and thereby promote cellula...

Chair of ICBBS2026Sam-Yong Park (Yokohama City University)We are pleased to invite symposium proposals for International Conference on Biophysics and Biomedical Sciences (ICBBS2026).The Biophysical So...

High-sensitivity viral diagnostics typically use PCR to detect and amplify viral nucleic acids which requires fluorescence reporters, enzymatic amplification, specialized equipment and can be time-c...

YouTube video by The Biophysical Society of Japan

Consumer product companies have walked back their plastics sustainability goals, and many recyclers are closing their doors

The remarkable progress of artificial intelligence (AI) has revealed the enormous energy demands of modern digital architectures, raising deep concerns about sustainability. In stark contrast, the hum...

E. coli swims using helical flagellar filaments driven at their base by a rotary motor. Torque-generating ‘stator’ units drive the bacterial flagellar motor (BFM) by transmitting mechanical power to a...

The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Single Molecule Approaches to Biology will be held in Les Diablerets, Vaud (fr) Switzerland. Apply today to reserve your spot.

We provide detailed experimental guidelines for implementing digital holography in the context of high-sensitivity interferometric scattering (iSCAT)-based nanosizing applications. Our approach relies on interferometry via the highly versatile off-axis implementation of digital holography, which offers key advantages over more traditional strategies. After a brief theoretical discussion of off-axis holography and its differences and similarities with iSCAT, typical experimental implementations and digital data-processing steps are presented. Key experimental parameters and strategies to achieve optimal performance are also highlighted. Following these experimental aspects, we focus on digital postprocessing routines that enable digital refocusing and 3D particle tracking as well as pupil function aberration correction. We then conclude with a few examples highlighting the broad applicability of digital holography for nanosizing and particle characterization applications, as well as an outlook for future applications.

Cryo-EM snapshots of the ATP synthase driven by proton motive force reveal the torsional deformation during ATP synthesis.

Molecular machine properties such as speed, efficiency, power, and torque depend upon particular features of structure, mechanism, and chemistry. The graphical abstract shows a Top Trumps-style repres...

Scalar energy can drive formation of non-equilibrium steady-states or power directional processes such as chemotaxis, ion transport across a membrane, or walking along a polar track. This work focuses...

Scalar energy can drive formation of non-equilibrium steady-states or power directional processes such as chemotaxis, ion transport across a membrane, or walking along a polar track. This work focuses...

An electrically driven DNA origami arm can exert piconewton forces and transport fluorophores and nanoparticles.

The bar-hinge motor: a synthetic protein design exploiting conformational switching to achieve directional motility, Small, Lara S R, Zuckermann, Martin J, Sessions, Richard B, Curmi, Paul M G, Linke,...