Home > Press > UC Santa Cruz researchers receive $1.6M grant
Abstract:
"The nanopore will act as a smart gate for entry of individual molecules into the channel of the waveguide"
Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have received major funding from the National Institutes of Health to develop new sensor technology for biomedical applications. The project builds on earlier advances by UCSC researchers in optical and electrical sensing technologies and involves a broad interdisciplinary group of collaborators at UCSC and Brigham Young University.
Holger Schmidt, an associate professor of electrical engineering at UCSC, is principal investigator on the grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, which will provide $1.6 million over four years for the sensor project.
"We aim to develop a new type of instrument that can do both electrical and optical sensing of single biomolecules, with all the components of the sensor ultimately integrated onto a chip," Schmidt said. "This would be the first device to provide both electrical and optical characterization of single molecules."
Potential applications for the new device include highly sensitive testing for medical diagnostics. It could also be a powerful tool for basic research in molecular biology.
In 2004, Schmidt and his coworkers reported the first demonstration of integrated optical waveguides with liquid cores. This technology, using the principle of antiresonant reflecting optical waveguides (ARROW), enables light propagation through tiny volumes of liquids on a chip. Since then, Schmidt has continued to work with Aaron Hawkins of Brigham Young University to optimize the properties of the liquid-core optical waveguides for use in sensor devices. The new project involves the collaboration of two other scientists at UCSC: David Deamer, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and acting chair of biomolecular engineering, and Harry Noller, Sinsheimer Professor of Molecular Biology.
Deamer has pioneered the development of nanopore devices for electrical sensing of single molecules. A nanopore is a tiny hole with dimensions on the order of nanometers (a nanometer is one billionth of a meter). Passage of a molecule through the hole generates a characteristic electrical signal. The team plans to integrate nanopores and liquid-core optical waveguides into the new sensor platform.
"The nanopore will act as a smart gate for entry of individual molecules into the channel of the waveguide," Schmidt said.
Noller is a leading authority on ribosomes, complex biomolecular machines that are the protein factories in all living cells. The researchers will use the new sensor platform to study individual ribosomes in action.
"In the integrated sensor, we will be able to study the ribosome without the need to immobilize it, so we hope to gain new understanding of how the ribosome works," Schmidt said.
The collaboration brings together researchers from three different departments at UCSC: the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Biomolecular Engineering, both in the Baskin School of Engineering, and the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology in the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences.
"This is a truly multidisciplinary collaboration," Schmidt said. "I am very excited about using integrated optics to investigate real problems in molecular biology."
Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Related News Press |
Possible Futures
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
With VECSELs towards the quantum internet Fraunhofer: IAF achieves record output power with VECSEL for quantum frequency converters April 5th, 2024
Investments/IPO's/Splits
Daikin Industries becomes OCSiAl shareholder July 27th, 2021
INBRAIN Neuroelectronics raises over €14M to develop smart graphene-based neural implants for personalised therapies in brain disorders March 26th, 2021
180 Degree Capital Corp. Issues Second Open Letter to the Board and Shareholders of Enzo Biochem, Inc. March 26th, 2021
Nanomedicine
New micromaterial releases nanoparticles that selectively destroy cancer cells April 5th, 2024
Good as gold - improving infectious disease testing with gold nanoparticles April 5th, 2024
Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life March 8th, 2024
Sensors
Announcements
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
Premium Products | ||
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||