Hermans Lab

Research focus

ERC Consolidator Grant · 2022

Swarming supramolecular robots

Biological robots perform complex biological functions such as cell division. Microtubule-asters, for example, use extendable ‘legs’ emanating from a central point to position themselves at the center of the cell or to mechanically pull chromosomes apart. Their legs are formed by dissipative supramolecular polymerization of tubulin dimers into microtubules, powered by guanosine triphosphate ‘chemical fuel’. This ‘Suprabot’ ERC-CoG proposal aims to make fully synthetic analogous of the microtubule-asters. Suprabots are multilegged micron-sized supramolecular robots that can change shape, move directionally, and show collective swarming behavior when in close proximity of each other. A single…

From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.