Joe Howard profile on Beagle Webzine

Dr. Jonathon “Joe” Howard, UW professor of physiology and biophysics, is profiled in the Feb. 5 edition of HMS Beagle, an international Webzine for biomedical scientists.

The article “Joe Howard, Motor Man” describes his work on kinesin, a protein that hydrolyzes ATP, then uses that energy to propel itself along microtubules throughout a living cell. Kinesin carries other proteins and membrane vesicles with it.

The kinesin molecule has two structures that attach to and release from the microtubule in alternate steps to move itself forward, what some call “the kinesin walk.”

Howard and his group measure the minute forces the kinesin molecule generates. They hope to identify the kinesin motor’s moving parts and to figure out how it converts chemical energy into the mechanics that drive the motor forward. Kinesin is five times more efficient than an internal combustion engine, and about a hundred million times smaller.

Howard’s lab is part of the UW Center for Nanotechology, a group exploring how molecules and atoms might be manipulated to build tiny devices. Howard’s team hopes to design cellular machinery run by molecular motors.

HMS Beagle is on the Web at http://www.biomednet.com/hmsbeagle/

Leila Gray