Description: Fabrication of solid-state nanopores in SiN membranes or use of biological pores for detecting and sequencing single protein molecules and DNA by ionic current blockade.
Develops BioMEMS and nanopore-based biosensors, lab-on-chip devices, and micro/nano-fabricated platforms for pathogen and biomolecule detection and multiscale tissue engineering.
Branton is a pioneer of nanopore sensing, having shown that single DNA/RNA molecules threading through a nanopore produce ionic-current signatures usable for single-molecule sequencing — foundational work underlying the modern solid-state and biological nanopore-sequencing industry, and a direct fit to the biosensing/single-molecule filter criterion.
Cees Dekker (Distinguished University Professor, BioNanoscience/Kavli) pioneered solid-state nanopores and single-molecule biophysics. Research: (1) solid-state nanopores for protein sensing and sequencing — detecting individual protein molecules by current blockade; (2) DNA loop extrusion by condensin and cohesin at the single-molecule level; (3) chromatin structure and chromosome organisation with bacteria-on-chip; (4) synthetic cell construction from the bottom up; (5) diagnostic nanopores for neglected diseases. NanoFront 51M€ NWO program leader; 2019 Nature paper on real-time DNA loop extrusion imaging.
Edel's group develops nanopore- and nanogap-based single-molecule sensing platforms, combining nanofluidics, plasmonics and electrical/optical readout for ultrasensitive detection and sequencing of biomolecules.
Gooding is one of the world's most-cited biosensor scientists (inaugural editor-in-chief of ACS Sensors) and runs a group of over thirty researchers spanning surface chemistry, electrochemistry and nanomedicine. The sensing programme that matters here is the move from ensemble to digital, single-molecule-resolved detection: nanoparticle-tethered electrochemical sensors in which single binding events are counted rather than averaged, nanopore blockade sensors for protein biomarkers such as PSA, amplification-free nucleic-acid detection, and antifouling surface chemistries that make any of this work in real biological fluid. He has a strong commercialisation record (AgaMatrix glucose sensors). Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work — DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity — his single-molecule-counting philosophy is the biosensing analogue of moving from a pT/sqrt(Hz) NV ensemble to single-spin detection: in both cases the sensitivity gain comes from resolving individual events rather than improving an averaged signal. He is also the obvious collaborator for anyone trying to functionalise a diamond or nanoparticle quantum sensor for a real analyte.
Ivanov works on nanotechnology-enabled biosensors and biophysical measurement platforms, including nanopore and microfluidic devices for single-molecule and single-particle biosensing.
Keyser's group uses solid-state and DNA-origami nanopores for resistive-pulse single-molecule sensing, with a current focus on multiplexed RNA identification using barcoded DNA nanostructures, in close collaboration with Jeremy Baumberg's plasmonics group. The lab combines physics, nanofabrication and molecular biology to push nanopore sensing toward diagnostic applications.