报告题目:Micro-pyramidal silicon nanopore and inertial-kinetic sensing of single molecules
报告人:何浩培 教授 Professor Aaron Ho-Pui Ho,香港中文大学 (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
邀请人:王煜烨 助理教授
时 间:2024年1月12日(周五)下午15:00
地 点:粤海校区光电子所三楼多功能厅
Abstract
In this seminar, the speaker aims to report a new technique for nanopore-based single-molecule sensing. The key element of innovation is the use of inertial force for the actuation of target molecules. In conventional schemes, translocation of molecules through a nanopore is driven by electrokinetic forces. However, this approach has many limitations including uncontrollable translocation speed, non-uniform conductance signal pulses and low conformational sensitivity, which have hindered accurate discrimination of the molecules. We demonstrate that by operating the nanopore system inside a centrifuge system, in which target molecules are purely driven by inertial forces, we will have a much better outcome by introducing an additional degree of free to the system. An obvious advantage is that the detected current blockade signals are entirely due to molecular translocation events, and not in any way related to ionic conductance. Within this project, we have also developed a new photovoltaic electrochemical etch-stop technique for the fabrication of micro-pyramidal silicon nanopores. By adjusting the kinetic properties of a funnel-shaped centrifugal force field while maintaining a counter-balanced state of electrophoretic and electroosmotic effect in the nanopore, we have observed regulated translocation of proteins and obtained stable signals of long and adjustable dwell times and high conformational sensitivity. We have also demonstrated instantaneous sensing and discrimination of molecular conformations and longitudinal monitoring of molecular reactions and conformation changes by wirelessly measuring characteristic features in current blockade readouts using the in-tube nanopore device.
Biography
Professor Ho received his BEng and PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Nottingham. Before taking up the current position of Chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Professor Ho has held position as Associate Dean of Engineering, CUHK; Assistant Professor in Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong; Senior Process Engineer for semiconductor laser fabrication, Hewlett-Packard (UK). His service to the professional and academic community includes Chairman of Hong Kong Optical Engineering Society; Chairman of IEEE Electron Device/Solid-State Circuits (ED/SSC) Hong Kong Chapter, Admission Panel member of Technology Business Incubation Programme (IncuTech) operated by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP); Council Member of The Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi). His current academic interests focus on nano-sized semiconductor materials for photonic and sensor applications, optical instrumentation, surface plasmon resonance biosensors, lab-on-a-chip, nanopore techniques and biophotonics. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles, 33 Chinese and 6 US patents. He is a Fellow of SPIE and HKIE.