Navigating of microtubule obstacles by ensembles of dynein

Dynein is a microtubule-associated motor protein that facilitates the transport of essential cargos within the cell. Given the sheer size difference between this motor and its many cargos, dynein often works together in teams with other motor proteins to accomplish their transporting tasks. Failure of this transport system results in neurological diseases. To understand and contextualize how these malfunctions occur, we are investigating the fundamental biophysical mechanisms that drive intracellular cargo transport. To do this, we have turned to an in vitro system using DNA origami as a highly controllable synthetic cargo structure that allows us to construct and model how multiple dynein motor proteins work in a concerted effort to transport cargos. To push this experimental system toward greater biological relevance, we investigated motor ensemble transport in the presence of obstacles along the microtubule surface. Additionally, to mirror the crowded cytoskeletal intracellular environment, we performed microtubule crossing experiments to probe how precisely organized teams of motor proteins navigate through the dense microtubule network