Koll

Department of Physics, Willamette University

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I’m a senior physics major from West Linn, Oregon. My thesis project encompasses the search for and study of a biological motor called myosin. These motors are found abundantly in higher and lower organisms and are responsible for many intercellular functions including muscle contraction and single organelle trafficking. In particular, my thesis focuses on the search for force dependence in a specific subclass of class 1 myosins, Acanthamoeba myosin 1C. Using the three-bead-assay and a new shifting dumbbell approach, my project seeks to enhance the detection signal of this particular motor during ATP hydrolysis to confirm its presence in vitro.