Photo of William Hancock

William Hancock

Professor

Affiliation(s):

  • Biomedical Engineering

430 Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building

woh1@psu.edu

814-863-0492

Personal or Departmental Website

Research Areas:

Cell and Molecular Bioengineering

Interest Areas:

Kinesin molecular motors, microtubules, molecular biomechanics, nanoscale biomolecular transport, directed assembly.

 
 

 

Education

  • BS, Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, 1988
  • Ph D, Bioengineering, University of Washington, 1994

Publications

Journal Articles

  • Taylor M Zaniewski and William O Hancock, 2023, "Positive charge in the K-loop of the kinesin-3 motor KIF1A regulates superprocessivity by enhancing microtubule affinity in the one-head-bound state.", Journal of Biological Chemistry
  • Serapion Pyrpassopoulos, Allison M Gicking, Taylor M Zaniewski, William O Hancock and E Michael Ostap, 2023, "KIF1A is kinetically tuned to be a superengaging motor under hindering loads", Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
  • Tzu-Chen Ma, Allison M Gicking, Qingzhou Feng and William O Hancock, 2023, "Simulations suggest robust microtubule attachment of kinesin and dynein in antagonistic pairs", Biophysical Journal
  • A L Solon, T M Zaniewski, P O'Brien, M Clasby, William O Hancock and R Ohi, 2022, "Synergy between inhibitors of two mitotic spindle assembly motors undermines an adaptive response.", Molecular biology of the cell, 33, (14), pp. ar132
  • A M Gicking, T C Ma, Q Feng, R Jiang, S Badieyan, M A Cianfrocco and William O Hancock, 2022, "Kinesin-1, -2, and -3 motors use family-specific mechanochemical strategies to effectively compete with dynein during bidirectional transport.", eLife, 11
  • William O Hancock, 2022, "Intracellular transport: KIF1C produces force along with a few slips.", Current biology : CB, 32, (17), pp. R914-R916
  • P Wisanpitayakorn, K J Mickolajczyk, William O Hancock, L Vidali and E Tüzel, 2022, "Measurement of the persistence length of cytoskeletal filaments using curvature distributions.", Biophysical journal, 121, (10), pp. 1813-1822
  • J M Cleary, T Kim, Cook ASI, L A McCormick, William O Hancock and L M Rice, 2022, "Measurements and simulations of microtubule growth imply strong longitudinal interactions and reveal a role for GDP on the elongating end.", eLife, 11
  • M A Jensen, Q Feng, William O Hancock and S A McKinley, 2021, "A change point analysis protocol for comparing intracellular transport by different molecular motor combinations.", Mathematical biosciences and engineering : MBE, 18, (6), pp. 8962-8996
  • Z K Haviland, D Nong, K L Vasquez Kuntz, T J Starr, Dengbo Ma, Ming Tien, Charles Anderson and William O Hancock, 2021, "Nanoscale dynamics of cellulose digestion by the cellobiohydrolase TrCel7A.", The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 297, (3), pp. 101029
  • R Jiang and William O Hancock, 2021, "Measuring microtubule binding kinetics of membrane-bound kinesin motors using supported lipid bilayers.", STAR protocols, 2, (3), pp. 100691
  • C Feng, J M Cleary, Gregory Kothe, M C Stone, A T Weiner, J I Hertzler, William O Hancock and Melissa Rolls, 2021, "Trim9 and Klp61F promote polymerization of new dendritic microtubules along parallel microtubules.", Journal of Cell Science, 134, (11)
  • J M Cleary and William O Hancock, 2021, "Molecular mechanisms underlying microtubule growth dynamics.", Current Biology, 31, (10), pp. R560-R573
  • D Nong, Z K Haviland, K V Kuntz, Ming Tien, Charles Anderson and William O Hancock, 2021, "Integrated multi-wavelength microscope combining TIRFM and IRM modalities for imaging cellulases and other processive enzymes.", Biomedical Optics Express, 12, (6), pp. 3253-3264
  • T M Zaniewski, A M Gicking, John Fricks and William O Hancock, 2020, "A kinetic dissection of the fast and superprocessive kinesin-3 KIF1A reveals a predominant one-head-bound state during its chemomechanical cycle.", The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 295, (52), pp. 17889-17903
  • K F Tseng, K J Mickolajczyk, G Feng, Q Feng, E S Kwok, J Howe, E J Barbar, S C Dawson, William O Hancock and W Qiu, 2020, "The Tail of Kinesin-14a in Giardia Is a Dual Regulator of Motility.", Current biology : CB, 30, (18), pp. 3664-3671.e4
  • Q Feng, A M Gicking and William O Hancock, 2020, "Dynactin p150 promotes processive motility of DDB complexes by minimizing diffusional behavior of dynein.", Molecular Biology of the Cell, 31, (8), pp. 782-792
  • P Sonar, W Youyen, A Cleetus, P Wisanpitayakorn, S I Mousavi, W L Stepp, William O Hancock, E Tüzel and Z Ökten, 2020, "Kinesin-2 from C. reinhardtii Is an Atypically Fast and Auto-inhibited Motor that Is Activated by Heterotrimerization for Intraflagellar Transport.", Current biology : CB, 30, (6), pp. 1160-1166.e5
  • R Jiang, S Vandal, S Park, S Majd, E Tüzel and William O Hancock, 2019, "Microtubule binding kinetics of membrane-bound kinesin-1 predicts high motor copy numbers on intracellular cargo.", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
  • K J Mickolajczyk, Cook ASI, J P Jevtha, J Fricks and William O Hancock, 2019, "Insights into Kinesin-1 Stepping from Simulations and Tracking of Gold Nanoparticle-Labeled Motors.", Biophysical journal, 117, (2), pp. 331-345
  • G Y Chen, J M Cleary, A B Asenjo, Y Chen, J A Mascaro, Arginteanu DFJ, H Sosa and William O Hancock, 2019, "Kinesin-5 Promotes Microtubule Nucleation and Assembly by Stabilizing a Lattice-Competent Conformation of Tubulin.", Current biology : CB, 29, (14), pp. 2259-2269.e4
  • A M Gicking, P Wang, C Liu, K J Mickolajczyk, L Guo, William O Hancock and W Qiu, 2019, "The Orphan Kinesin PAKRP2 Achieves Processive Motility via a Noncanonical Stepping Mechanism.", Biophysical journal, 116, (7), pp. 1270-1281
  • K G Ohashi, L Han, B Mentley, J Wang, John Fricks and William O Hancock, 2019, "Load-dependent detachment kinetics play a key role in bidirectional cargo transport by kinesin and dynein.", Traffic (Copenhagen, Denmark)
  • K J Mickolajczyk, E A Geyer, T Kim, L M Rice and William O Hancock, 2019, "Direct observation of individual tubulin dimers binding to growing microtubules.", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
  • G Arpag, S R Norris, S I Mousavi, V Soppina, K J Verhey, William O Hancock and E Tüzel, 2019, "Motor Dynamics Underlying Cargo Transport by Pairs of Kinesin-1 and Kinesin-3 Motors.", Biophysical journal
  • A Pisupati, K J Mickolajczyk, W Horton, Damian B van Rossum, Andriy Anishkin, S V Chintapalli, X Li, J Chu-Luo, G Busey, William O Hancock and Timothy Jegla, 2018, "The S6 gate in regulatory Kv6 subunits restricts heteromeric K+ channel stoichiometry.", The Journal of general physiology, 150, (12), pp. 1702-1721
  • A M Gicking, W Qiu and William O Hancock, 2018, "Mitotic kinesins in action: diffusive searching, directional switching, and ensemble coordination.", Molecular biology of the cell, 29, (10), pp. 1153-1156
  • K J Mickolajczyk and William O Hancock, 2018, "High-Resolution Single-Molecule Kinesin Assays at kHz Frame Rates.", Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 1805, pp. 123-138
  • Qingzhou Feng, Keith J Mickolajczyk, Geng-Yuan Chen and William O Hancock, 2018, "Motor Reattachment Kinetics Play a Dominant Role in Multimotor-Driven Cargo Transport", Biophysical Journal, 114, pp. 400-409
  • Hugo Arellano-Santoyo, Elizabeth Geyer, E. Stokasimov, Geng-Yuan Chen, William O Hancock, Luke Rice and David Pellman, 2017, "A Tubulin Binding Switch Underlies Kip3/Kinesin-8 Depolymerase Activity", Developmental Cell, 42, (1), pp. 37-50
  • K J Mickolajczyk and William O Hancock, 2017, "Kinesin Processivity Is Determined by a Kinetic Race from a Vulnerable One-Head-Bound State.", Biophysical journal, 112, (12), pp. 2615-2623
  • G J Hoeprich, K J Mickolajczyk, S R Nelson, William O Hancock and C L Berger, 2017, "The axonal transport motor kinesin-2 navigates microtubule obstacles via protofilament switching.", Traffic (Copenhagen, Denmark), 18, (5), pp. 304-314
  • G Y Chen, Y J Kang, A S Gayek, W Youyen, E Tüzel, R Ohi and William O Hancock, 2017, "Eg5 Inhibitors Have Contrasting Effects on Microtubule Stability and Metaphase Spindle Integrity.", ACS chemical biology, 12, (4), pp. 1038-1046
  • R Guan, L Zhang, Q P Su, K J Mickolajczyk, G Y Chen, William O Hancock, Y Sun, Y Zhao and Z Chen, 2017, "Crystal structure of Zen4 in the apo state reveals a missing conformation of kinesin.", Nature communications, 8, pp. 14951
  • A Upadhyay, A Pisupati, Tim Jegla, M Crook, Keith Mickolajczyk, M Shorey, L Rohan, K Billings, Melissa M Rolls, William O Hancock and Wendy Hanna-Rose, 2016, "Nicotinamide is an endogenous agonist for a C. elegans TRPV OSM-9 and OCR-4 channel", Nature Communications, 7, (13135)
  • Geng-Yuan Chen, Keith Mickolajczyk and William O Hancock, 2016, "The Kinesin-5 Chemomechanical Cycle Is Dominated by a Two-heads-bound State", Journal of Biological Chemistry, 291, (39), pp. 20283-94
  • Martin Engelke, M Winding, Y Yue, Shankar Shastry, F Teloni, S Reddy, T Blasius, P Soppina, William O Hancock, Vladimir I Gelfand and Kristen J Verhey, 2016, "Engineered kinesin motor proteins amenable to small-molecule inhibition", Nature Communications, 7, (11159)
  • William O Hancock, 2016, "The Kinesin-1 Chemomechanical Cycle: Stepping Toward a Consensus", Biophysical Journal, 110, pp. 1216–1225
  • A T Weiner, M C Lanz, D J Goetschius, William O Hancock and Melissa Rolls, 2016, "Kinesin-2 and Apc function at dendrite branch points to resolve microtubule collisions.", Cytoskeleton (Hoboken, N.J.), 73, (1), pp. 35-44
  • K J Mickolajczyk, N C Deffenbaugh, J Ortega Arroyo, J Andrecka, P Kukura and William O Hancock, 2015, "Kinetics of nucleotide-dependent structural transitions in the kinesin-1 hydrolysis cycle.", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112, (52), pp. E7186-93
  • William O Hancock, 2015, "Aging Gracefully: A New Model of Microtubule Growth and Catastrophe.", Biophysical journal, 109, (12), pp. 2449-51
  • Y Chen and William O Hancock, 2015, "Kinesin-5 is a microtubule polymerase.", Nature communications, 6, pp. 8160
  • J O Andreasson, S Shastry, William O Hancock and S M Block, 2015, "The Mechanochemical Cycle of Mammalian Kinesin-2 KIF3A/B under Load.", Current biology : CB, 25, (9), pp. 1166-75
  • J O Andreasson, B Milic, G Y Chen, N R Guydosh, William O Hancock and S M Block, 2015, "Examining kinesin processivity within a general gating framework.", eLife, 4
  • G Y Chen, David Florn Johnson Arginteanu and William O Hancock, 2015, "Processivity of the kinesin-2 KIF3A results from rear head gating and not front head gating.", The Journal of biological chemistry, 290, (16), pp. 10274-94
  • Y Chen, N C Deffenbaugh, Charles Anderson and William O Hancock, 2014, "Molecular counting by photobleaching in protein complexes with many subunits: best practices and application to the cellulose synthesis complex.", Molecular biology of the cell, 25, (22), pp. 3630-42
  • G Arpag, S Shastry, William O Hancock and E Tüzel, 2014, "Transport by populations of fast and slow kinesins uncovers novel family-dependent motor characteristics important for in vivo function.", Biophysical journal, 107, (8), pp. 1896-904
  • William O Hancock, 2014, "Mitotic kinesins: a reason to delve into kinesin-12.", Current biology : CB, 24, (19), pp. R968-70
  • B Milic, J O Andreasson, William O Hancock and S M Block, 2014, "Kinesin processivity is gated by phosphate release.", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111, (39), pp. 14136-40
  • William O Hancock, 2014, "Bidirectional cargo transport: moving beyond tug of war.", Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology, 15, (9), pp. 615-28
  • G J Hoeprich, A R Thompson, D P McVicker, William O Hancock and C L Berger, 2014, "Kinesin's neck-linker determines its ability to navigate obstacles on the microtubule surface.", Biophysical journal, 106, (8), pp. 1691-700
  • Y Chen, Melissa Rolls and William O Hancock, 2014, "An EB1-kinesin complex is sufficient to steer microtubule growth in vitro.", Current biology : CB, 24, (3), pp. 316-21
  • Christopher L Berger, Gregory J Hoeprich, Andrew R Thompson and William O Hancock, 2014, "Kinesin-2’s Neck-Linker is Critical to Navigating Obstacles on the Microtubule Surface More Efficiently Than Kinesin-1", Biophysical Journal, 106, (2), pp. 781a
  • J. Hughes, S. Shastry, William O Hancock and J. Fricks, 2013, "Estimating velocity for processive motor proteins with random detachment", Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics, 18, (2), pp. 204-217
  • J. Hughes, William O Hancock and J. Fricks, 2012, "Kinesins with extended neck linkers: a chemomechanical model for variable-length stepping", Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 74, (5), pp. 1066-1097
  • V. Verma, J. M. Catchmark, N. R. Brown and William O Hancock, 2012, "Microtubule asters as templates for nanomaterials assembly", Journal of Biological Engineering, 6, (1), pp. 23
  • S. Shastry and William O Hancock, 2011, "Inter-head Tension Determines Processivity Across Diverse N-Terminal Kinesins", Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 108, (39), pp. 16253-16258
  • L. Malcos and William O Hancock, 2011, "Engineering Tubulin: Microtubule functionalization approaches for nanoscale device applications", Journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 90, pp. 1-10
  • J. Hughes, William O Hancock and J. Fricks, 2011, "A matrix computational approach to kinesin neck linker extension", Journal of Theoretical Biology, 269, (1), pp. 181-194
  • M. Uppalapati, Y.-M. Huang, V. Aravamuthan, T. N. Jackson and William O Hancock, 2011, "Artificial mitotic spindle generated by dielectrophoresis and protein micropatterning supports bidirectional transport of kinesin-coated beads", Integrative Biology, 3, pp. 57-64
  • M. L. Kutys, J. Fricks and William O Hancock, 2010, "Monte Carlo analysis of neck linker extension in kinesin molecular motors", PLoS Computational Biology, 6, (11), pp. e1000980
  • S. Shastry and William O Hancock, 2010, "Neck linker length determines the degree of processivity in Kinesin-1 and Kinesin-2 motors", Current Biology, 20, pp. 939-943
  • J. Hughes, J. Fricks and William O Hancock, 2010, "Likelihood inference for particle location in fluorescence microscopy", Annals of Applied Statistics, 4, pp. 830-848
  • G. M. Muthukrishnan, Y. Zhang, S. Shastry and William O Hancock, 2009, "The processivity of kinesin-2 motors suggests diminished front-head gating", Current Biology, 19, pp. 442-447
  • T. Ozeki, V. Verma, M. Uppalapati, Y. Suzuki, M. Nakamura, J. M. Catchmark and William O Hancock, 2009, "Surface-bound casein modulates the adsorption and activity of kinesin on SiO2 surfaces", Biophysical Journal, 96, (8), pp. 3305-3318
  • A. D. Bicek, E. Tuzel, A. Demtchouk, M. Uppalapati, William O Hancock, D. M. Kroll and D. J. Odde, 2009, "Anterograde microtubule transport drives microtubule bending in LLC-PK1 epithelial cells", Mol. Bio. Cell, 20, (12), pp. 2943-2953
  • V. Hariharan and William O Hancock, 2009, "Insights into the mechanical properties of the kinesin neck linker domain from sequence analysis and molecular dynamics simulations", Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, 2, (2), pp. 177-189
  • M. Uppalapati, Y.-M. Huang, William O Hancock and T. N. Jackson, 2008, "Microtubule alignment and manipulation using AC electrokinetics", Small, 4, (9), pp. 1371-1381
  • V. Verma, William O Hancock and J. Catchmark, 2008, "Nanoscale patterning of kinesin motor proteins and its role in guiding microtubule motility", Biomedical Microdevices
  • M. Uppalapti, Y.-M. Huang, T. N. Jackson and William O Hancock, 2008, "Enhancing the stability of kinesin motors for microscale transport applications", Lab on a Chip, 8, pp. 358-361
  • M. Raab and William O Hancock, 2008, "Transport and detection of unlabeled nucleotide targets by microtubules functionalized with molecular beacons", Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 99, (4), pp. 764-773
  • V. Verma, William O Hancock and J. M. Catchmark, 2008, "The role of casein in supporting the operation of surface bound kinesin", Journal of Biological Engineering, 2, pp. 14
  • Y. M. Huang, M. Uppalapati, William O Hancock and T. N. Jackson, 2008, "Neutravidin micropatterning by deep UV irradiation", Lab on a Chip, 8, (10), pp. 1745-1747
  • Y.-M. Huang, M. Uppalapati, William O Hancock and T. N. Jackson, 2007, "Microtubule transport, concentration and alignment in enclosed microfluidic channels", Biomedical Microdevices, 9, pp. 175-184
  • B. M. Hutchins, M. Platt, William O Hancock and M. E. Williams, 2006, "Directing transport of CoFe2O4-functionalized microtubules with magnetic fields", Small, 3, (1), pp. 126-131
  • G. Muthkrishnan, B. M. Hutchins, M. E. Williams and William O Hancock, 2006, "Transport of semiconductor nanocrystals by kinesin molecular motors", Small, 2, (5), pp. 626-630
  • B. M. Hutchins, William O Hancock and M. E. Williams, 2006, "Magnet assisted fabrication of microtubule arrays", Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys, 8, (30), pp. 3507-3509
  • B. M. Hutchins, William O Hancock and M. E. Williams, 2006, "Motility of CoFe2O4 nanoparticle-labelled microtubules in magnetic fields", Micro and Nano Letters, 1, (1), pp. 47-52
  • V. Verma, William O Hancock and J. M. Catchmark, 2005, "Micro- and nanofabrication processes for hybrid synthetic and biological system fabrication", IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging, 28, (4), pp. 584-593
  • Y. M. Huang, M. Uppalapati, William O Hancock and T. N. Jackson, 2005, "Microfabricated capped channels for biomolecular motor-based transport", IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging, 28, (4), pp. 564-570

Conference Proceedings

  • M. E. Williams, B. M. Hutchins, M. Platt and William O Hancock, 2007, "Directing Placement, Alignment, and Transport of Magnetic Nanoparticle-Labeled Microtubules", ECS Transactions Cancun, Biological Nanostructures, Materials, and Applications, 3

Other

  • A Pisupati, K J Mickolajczyk, William O Hancock and Timothy Jegla, 2020, "What is the correct stoichiometry of Kv2.1:Kv6.4 heteromers?", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117, (47), pp. 29288-29289
  • J Howard and William O Hancock, 2020, "Three Beads Are Better Than One.", Biophysical journal, 118, (1), pp. 1-3
  • William O Hancock, 2012, "Cytoskeletal organization: whirling to the beat", Current Biology, 22, (12), pp. R493-495
  • William O Hancock and W. H. Guilford, 2009, "Cytoskeleton, cell adhesion, and motility", Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, 2, (2), pp. 175-176
  • M. Uppalapati, Y.-M. Huang, S. Shastry, T. N. Jackson and William O Hancock, 2009, "Microtubule motors in microfluidics"
  • William O Hancock, 2008, "Intracellular transport: kinesins working together", Current Biology, 18, (16), pp. R715-R717
  • William O Hancock, 2006, "Protein-Based Nanotechnology: Kinesin-Microtubule Driven Systems for Bioanalytical Applications"
  • William O Hancock and J. Howard, 2002, "Kinesin: Processivity and Chemomechanical Coupling", 10, pp. 243-269

Research Projects

Honors and Awards

  • Dean's Fellow, College of Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, 2017

Service

Service to Penn State:

Service to External Organizations:

 


 

About

The Department of Biomedical Engineering administers the bachelor of science, master of science, and doctorate degree programs in biomedical engineering. Our work combines traditional engineering principles with medicine and technology for the betterment of human health and society. 

Department of Biomedical Engineering

122 Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building

The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA 16802-4400

Phone: 814-863-6614

Email: bme@engr.psu.edu