A seminar at Center for Mathematical Sciences, June 18, Tuesday, at 2:00pm Location: Center for Mathematical Sciences, Room 813（创新研究院恩明楼813室） speaker: Prof. Robert Mackay, University of Warwick, FRS Title: Ergodic pumping: A mechanism to drive biomolecular conformation changes Abstract: We propose that a signicant contribution to the power stroke of myosin and similar conformation changes in other biomolecules is the pressure of a single molecule (e.g. a phosphate ion) expanding a trap, a mechanism we call “ergodic pumping”. We demonstrate the principle with a toy computer model and discuss the mathematics governing the evolution of slow degrees of freedom in large Hamiltonian systems. We indicate in detail how the mechanism could t with known features of the myosin cycle. Many other biomolecular conformation changes could be driven in part by ergodic pumping. We suggest the use of ergodic pumping as a design principle in nanobiotechnology.