SPEAKER: Dr Alex Ivanov, Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London
SYNOPSIS:
The ability to simultaneously deliver and analyze individual molecules under label-free conditions is one of the ultimate goals in nanotechnology and can open up avenues for the quantitative analysis of biological, chemical and physical phenomena on an individual non?statistical basis. While the field of single-molecule detection is thriving, there is universal lack of methods that allow for controlled delivery of individual molecules and label-free single-molecule detection at the same time. A relatively new class of label-free bio-sensors is nanopores, which have been developed to efficiently detect and analyze single molecules (such as DNA, RNA and proteins) under physiologically relevant conditions with high signal-to-noise ratio. Until now nanopores have been mainly used as a high sensitivity analytical tool that has not been used for the controllable delivery of biomolecular species, in part due to the stochastic (random) nature of the transport of analyte through the nanopore.
This seminar will address some of the limitations above and the capabilities for controllable single-molecule delivery and label-free detection with a nanopore. We show that the delivery and detection of single molecules can be a controllable process, enabling on-demand delivery with precision of one molecule at a time. These unique findings open the door to using nanopores as a single molecule delivery tool which is expected to have a broad range of applications, e.g. gene regulation, infection, and single-molecule PCR, to name a few.
The Lunchtime Talks are 30 minutes in length, followed by 30 minutes of discussion over a light lunch, which will be provided.