Project Description

A barrier to the next era of personalized medicine is the cost of DNA sequencing. Currently full genome sequencing is too expensive to carry out on a population wide scale. DNA nanopore sequencing is a next generation sequencing technique that aims to make DNA sequencing cheap and fast enough for daily use in a doctor’s office. Nanopore sequencing relies on creating a nanometer sized pore between two chambers and measuring the current changes between the two chambers using electrodes. DNA is then added to one of the chambers and threads through the pore blocking the current reading. Each base of the DNA has a unique current blockage value and from there the DNA sequence can be determined. For a functioning device to be made a key concern is the insertion of a single pore between the two chambers. For protein pore sequencing this can be challenging due to the ability of proteins to spontaneously incorporate into membranes. This project aims to control the insertion of single proteins by applying voltage ramps to quickly electroporate the membrane and allow a single insertion.