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William Hancock, Ph.D.

AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2014
Significant contribution to the integration of bioengineering tools and approaches into fundamental cell and molecular biology and biophysics. Leader in the molecular mechanics of motor proteins.

Experiments Show Hypothesis of Microtubule Steering Accurate

Via Penn State News | January 23, 2014

Tiny protein motors in cells can steer microtubules in the right direction through branching nerve cell structures, according to Penn State researchers who used laboratory experiments to test a model of how these cellular information highways stay organized in living cells.

“We proposed a model of how it works in vivo, in the living cell,” said Melissa Rolls, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. “But because of the complexity of the living cells, we couldn’t tell if the model was possible.”

Rolls then collaborated with William O. Hancock, professor of biomedical engineering, who was already working on the tiny kinesin motors that move materials throughout the cell, to test the model in the laboratory, in vitro.

“Kinesins are little machines that use chemical energy to generate mechanical forces sufficient to carry materials through the cell,” said Hancock.