| Molecular communication is a possible solution for nanomachines to communicate with other nanomachines by exchanging molecules. Nanomachines represent natural or artificially synthesized assemblies which are made of biological molecules that perform a simple function. Molecular communication allows multiple nanomachines to cooperate and achieve complex functions that cannot be accomplished by a single nanomachine. Thus, molecular communication can spur the creation of entirely new applications.;This thesis explores the design and developing of a molecular communication system using protein motors and protein filaments. The design of a molecular communication system is inspired from molecular communication observed in biological systems. In the proposed system, protein motors transport cargos (i.e., information molecules) from a nanomachine to another nanomachine. A protein filament network interconnects nanomachines. This thesis introduces the concept of self-organizing protein filament network that interconnects nanomachines. This thesis proposes a method to form a protein filament network in a self organizing manner. This thesis shows in vitro experiments of the proposed method to determine the feasibility of the proposed method using kinesins and microtubules.;Protein motors transports cargos move along protein filaments unidirectionally, which has been well investigated. However, how the protein motors propagate on a protein filament network where protein filaments are intersected is unclear. At protein filament intersections, protein motors are observed to stochastically switch to another protein filament, or continue to move along the same protein filament. This thesis characterizes the stochastic behavior of protein motors at protein filaments through in-vitro experiments. Furthermore, thesis identifies that the behaviors of kinesins depend on cargo-size through in-vitro experiments. We develop models that geometrically explained how bead size determines the probability. Finally, we show how the stochastic behaviors could apply towards sorting of a cargo by size.;Index Terms. Molecular communication, kinesin, protein motor, microtubule, microtubule intersection, cargo, sorting, self organization, in vitro experiments. |
