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BIOMOLECULAR ACTUATORS

Muscle on demand

Nature Materials volume 20, pages 1040–1041 (2021)Cite this article

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

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Fig. 1: Pliers closing with active protein networks.
Fig. 2: Motor abundance varies inversely with size and increases as technology progresses.

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  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Henry Hess

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  1. Henry Hess
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Correspondence to Henry Hess.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Hess, H. Muscle on demand. Nat. Mater. 20, 1040–1041 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-01069-1

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