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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2008;299(3):275.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Sperm motility may help move more than male gametes in the future. Reproductive biologists have found that the molecular pathway that enables sperm to swim might also be used to power nanoscale medical devices. The energy could potentially be harnessed to carry out tasks such as releasing drugs and performing mechanical functions inside the body.

"Our work is . . . an attempt to create a power source that others can use to drive different nanorobots or nanoscale devices," said Alex Travis, VMD, PhD, assistant professor of veterinary medicine at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Travis presented his work at the recent American Society for Cell Biology's 47th Annual meeting, held in Washington, DC.

Travis and colleagues have taken enzymes that provide sperm with energy and tethered them to a solid inorganic substitute, finding that even when bound, the enzymes remain functional. These enzymes, which convert sugar into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) . . . [Full Text of this Article]