May 21, 2007

DNA Sieve: Nanoscale Pores Can Be Tiny Analysis Labs

Researchers from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Brazil's Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, and Wright State University in the United States have published research findings that a single nanometer-scale pore in a thin membrane can accurately detect and sort polymer chains of different sizes, indicating the possibility that similar technology could also be used to rapidly identify biological molecules such as DNA and toxins. The conventional method for identifying and measuring unknown molecules in a solution uses a process called mass spectrometry, which requires large equipment and a number of steps to disintegrate the target molecules into fragments. The article says that the new method, called “single-molecule mass spectrometry”, is a non-destructive technique that in principle can measure one molecule at a time in a space small enough to fit on a single microchip-based device the size of a cell phone.