Microelectromechanical based systems

Nanopore array allows simultanous tests in search for new drugs.

Membrane-associated receptors, channels and transporters are among the most important drug targets for the pharmaceutical industry. The search for new drugs resembles looking for a needle in a haystack. Therefore new analytical techniques are required which facilitate the simultaneous screening of a large library of compounds across a variety of membrane proteins. However, this class of methods is still at the early stages of development. The group of Prof. Dr. Robert Tampé, in collaboration with the Walter Schottky Institute at Technical University Munich, has now presented a novel, automatable lab-on-chip device for high-throughput screening of sensitive membrane proteins.

The work is detailed in the journal Nano Letters, where the scientists describe the analysis of membrane proteins on a nano-fabricated chip surface that contains almost 50,000 nanopores. These pores are covered by a freely suspended lipid membrane that incorporates the proteins to be analyzed. Because the lipid membrane is free of organic solvents and the proteins do not touch the solid support, the fragile structure (and therefore function) of the proteins is preserved.

Caption: The transport of fluorescence-labeled compounds across the lipid membrane can be monitored in real-time by accumulation or release from micro-compartments on the chip. Each nanopore is connected individually to one such compartment. Hence, one can analyze thousands of different drug compounds on a single chip. Credit: Institute for Biochemistry, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany. Usage Restrictions: None.

The system can be used to monitor the transport kinetics of membrane proteins by fluorescence microscopy. Due to the parallel design of the nanopore chip, a large number of samples can be analyzed simultaneously. ### Publication: Alexander Kleefen et al.: Multiplexed Parallel Single Transport Recordings on Nanopore Arrays, Nano Lett. [Epub ahead of print]PMID: 20979410 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] DOI: 10.1021/nl1033528

Contact: Prof. Robert Tampé tampe@em.uni-frankfurt.de 49-697-982-9475 Goethe University Frankfurt

Tel Aviv University researcher leads development of swift, small, highly reliable sensor to detect explosives.

Dogs have long been called man’s best bomb detector –– until now.

A Tel Aviv University scientist leads a research team that has developed a powerful electronic sensor to detect multiple kinds of explosives –– including those used in the recent Yemeni bomb threat. Based on nanotechnology advances, the new sensor is small, portable, and is more sensitive and reliable at detecting explosives than any sniffer dog, says its lead researcher Prof. Fernando Patolsky of Tel Aviv University’s Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Chemistry.

With scientific findings on it published recently in the prestigious Angewandte Chemie, the new device is attracting considerable attention from security companies and fellow scientists.

Capable of detecting numerous types of explosives, Prof. Patolsky says the sensor is especially effective at detecting TNT. Existing methods and devices used to trace the explosive have the drawbacks of high cost, lengthy decoding times, size, and a need for expert analyses: “There is a need for a small, inexpensive, handheld instrument capable of detecting explosives quickly, reliably and efficiently,” says Patolsky.

Caption: This is Tel Aviv University’s explosive-detecting sensor. Credit: AFTAU. Usage Restrictions: None.

According to the researchers, this new sensor can out-sniff even a champion sniffer canine. Portable and hidden from view The device is made from an array of silicon nanowires, coated with a compound that binds to explosives to form an electronic device –– a nanotransistor. In order to enhance the chips’ sensitivity even further, the scientists developed each one with 200 individual sensors that work in harmony to detect different kinds of explosives with an unprecedented degree of reliability, efficiency and speed.

One major advantage of the new sensor is its portability ? it can be carried from place to place by hand. It is also capable of detecting explosives at a distance. It can be mounted on a wall, with no need to bring it into contact with the item being checked. And unlike other explosives sensors, it enables definitive identification of the explosive that it has detected. To date. the device has not had a single detection error.

Security companies are taking note. The American company Nanergy Inc. has developed a prototype based on the patent, and is already in contact with potential partners to develop explosives sensors for the commercial market.

Headed by Prof. Patolsky, who recently returned to Israel from Harvard University, the research team is considered to be one of the world’s leaders in developing nano-based sensors that can detect chemical and biological molecules.

Such sensors may be used to detect not only explosives, but also biological toxins and threats, such as anthrax, cholera or botulinum. Looking beyond national security, the sensor offers attractive applications in the medical field as well. ###

American Friends of Tel Aviv University (www.aftau.org) supports Israel’s leading, most comprehensive and most sought-after center of higher learning. Independently ranked 94th among the world’s top universities for the impact of its research, TAU’s innovations and discoveries are cited more often by the global scientific community than all but 10 other universities.

Internationally recognized for the scope and groundbreaking nature of its research and scholarship, Tel Aviv University consistently produces work with profound implications for the future.

Contact: George Hunka ghunka@aftau.org 212-742-9070 American Friends of Tel Aviv University