MEMS and the cell: how nature creates microscale motion

Gerald H. Pollack

doi:10.1117/12.420866

21 March 2001 MEMS and the cell: how nature creates microscale motion

Gerald H. Pollack

Proceedings Volume 4235, Smart Structures and Devices; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.420866
Event: Smart Materials and MEMS, 2000, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

For those working in the MEMS field, creating microscale motion with improved functionality and efficacy is the challenge ahead. This challenge can be met through biomimetics—imitating nature. Nature, after all, has had almost four billion years to perfect its mastery, whereas MEMS engineers and chemists have been at it for no more than a few decades. Nature's solution to the challenge of microscale movement appears to be the polymer-gel phase-transition. The cytoplasm is a gel—it exhibits all ofthe gels' signature characteristics. By undergoing phase-transition, gels generate both solvent and solute movement. It is argued that cells do the same. Two examples are given: the secretory system and the muscle-contraction system. In each case it is shown that the characteristic motions are created as proteins and water undergo transition from an expanded, hydrated state to a contracted, dehydrated state. This transition displaces solutes and solvent. By exploiting these natural principles, MEMS may have the capacity to generate microscale motions of unprecedented efficacy and simplicity.

Citation Download Citation

Gerald H. Pollack "MEMS and the cell: how nature creates microscale motion", Proc. SPIE 4235, Smart Structures and Devices, (21 March 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.420866

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