Patent for Hybrid Nanopore Design Enhances Biodetection
COS/BioE Professor Meni Wanunu received a patent for “Lipid-free anchoring of thermophilic bacteriophage G20C portal adapter into solid-state nanopores.”
Abstract Source: USPTO
Hybrid nanopores, comprising a protein pore supported within a solid-state membrane, which combine the robust nature of solid-state membranes with the easily tunable and precise engineering of protein nanopores. In an embodiment, a lipid-free hybrid nanopore comprises a water soluble and stable, modified portal protein of the Thermus thermophilus bacteriophage G20c, electrokinetically inserted into a larger nanopore in a solid-state membrane. The hybrid pore is stable and easy to fabricate, and exhibits low peripheral leakage, allowing sensing and discrimination among different types of biomolecules.
