Development of a low cost solid-state nanopore fabrication method

纳米孔是嵌入在薄绝缘膜中的纳米级孔。它们提供了一个有限的空间，在这个空间内，单个分子可以被捕获并以高吞吐量进行电询问。经过15年的积极研究，基于纳米孔的传感器已成为下一代快速、低成本DNA测序技术的主要候选者。我们的设想是，纳米孔将直接从基因组DNA链中读取核苷酸序列，而不需要任何酶扩增或使用标记。这一成就将使基于纳米孔的DNA测序成为个性化医学的基石，允许对整个人类基因组进行廉价(1,000美元)、快速(24小时)的测序。基于纳米孔的技术作为一种用于疾病诊断应用的工具也有望产生重大影响，包括筛选蛋白质生物标记物，或分析microRNA的表达。

Nanopores are nanometer-scale holes embedded in thin insulating membranes. They provide a confined space within which single molecules can be captured and electrically interrogated at high throughput. Following 15 years of active research, nanopore-based sensors have emerged as the leading candidate for the next-generation of rapid, low-cost DNA sequencing technologies. The vision is that a nanopore would directly read the sequence of nucleotides from a strand of genomic DNA without any enzymatic amplifications, or use of labels. This achievement would place nanopore-based DNA sequencing as the cornerstone of personalized medicine, allowing for inexpensive (<$1,000), rapid (<24h) sequencing of an entire human genome. Nanopore-based technologies are also expected to have a significant impact as a tool used in disease diagnostic applications, including screening protein biomarkers, or profiling microRNA expression.