Nanopore Stochastic Detection: Past, Present, and Beyond

Nanopore sensors have emerged as a label-free and amplification-free technique for measuring single molecules. First proposed in the mid-1990s, nanopore detection takes advantage of the ionic current modulations produced by the passage of target analytes through a single nanopore at a fixed applied potential. Over the past 20 years, these nanoscale-sized pores have been utilized for biosensing, sequencing DNA molecules, studying covalent and non-covalent bonding interactions, investigating biomolecular folding and unfolding, probing enzyme kinetics, and so on.

A major issue of utilizing nanopore sensors for various applications is the rapid transport of target analytes through the nanopore. Many such rapid events could not be accurately detected by the currently available recording technique. Several strategies have been used to slow down molecular and ionic transport, thus improving the resolution and sensitivity of nanopore sensors. These include variation of the experimental conditions, use of a host compound, and modification of the analyte molecule and the nanopore sensor itself. In this presentation, I will highlight some of the recent research efforts of our group, especially utilization of probe-based nanopore sensing strategy for various new applications in medical diagnosis, homeland security, pharmaceutical screening, and environmental monitoring.