DEVELOPING NANOPORES AS NANOSENSORS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Nanopores are small pores with nanometer-scale radii. They are found in nature, such as the proteinaceous alpha-hemolysin pore [1], but can also be artificially manufactured in silicon-based membranes [2] and polymer wafers [3]. When immersed in aqueous solution and with an applied voltage, nanopores can be used to study the translocation of charged species, such as ions or nucleic acids. There are many promising applications for nanopores; for instance, developing a DNA sequencing technique or building nanofluidic devices. The Resource is working in close collaboration with experimentalists (Gregory Timp UIUC, Zuzanna Siwy UCI) and theoreticians (Jean-Pierre Leburton UIUC, Thorsten Ritz UCI) to understand the physics of synthetic nanopores and improve their usability as sensors. Atomic-scale modeling was carried out in the following directions: (i) translocating DNA-protein complexes through nanopores; (ii) stretching/unzipping DNA hairpins with a nanopore; (iii) sensing DNA sequence with a nanopore capacitor and (iv) modeling of ion interactions inside nanopores.