Every living thing is made up of cells and inside every cell is the molecular machine ATP Synthase. ATP is the energy source for the cell, powering important processes like DNA replication and the transportation of resources and waste. The word synthase is related to the word synthesis: to create more complicated molecules from smaller building blocks. ATP Synthase does just what the name implies: it creates ATP from two smaller building blocks.

ATP Synthase is so small that it cannot be directly observed with even the strongest optical microscopes. However, experimental researchers are able to study this tiny machine by attaching larger objects that we can see with a microscope. By tracking the attached objects, experimentalists have concluded that ATP Synthase uses the rotation of its central “crankshaft” to power the chemical reactions synthesizing ATP.

My research investigated the tradeoffs of machine operation using computer simulations. Check out my talk at the Three Minute Thesis competition held at the University of Saskatchewan in April 2017.

Publication:

Modeling work-speed-accuracy trade-offs in a stochastic rotary machine.

Alexandra K. S. Kasper and David A. Sivak. Phys. Rev. E 101, 032110 – Published 9 March 2020

https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.101.032110