Diffusion mediated transport and the brownian motor

Diffusion mediated transport is implicated in the operation of many molecular level systems. These include some liquid crystal and lipid bilayer systems, and, especially, the motor proteins responsible for eukaryotic cellular traffic. All of these systems are extremely complex and involve subtle interactions on varying scales. Here we explore the basis of the system analogous to the one already formulated by Oster, Ermentrout, and Peskin and by Adjari and Prost and their collaborators with the objective of understanding the mechanisms underlying their far from equilibrium behavior. What is necessary for transport? What is the role of diffusion? What role do other elements of the system and how can dissipation be exploited to understand this?
The opportunity to discover the interplay between chemistry and mechanics and to elaborate the implications of metastability could not offer a more exciting venue.