Prof. Nurit Ashkenasy - Research Group

In nanopores biosensors, detection is obtained through the change in the ionic current when a molecule translocates through the nanopores (NP), yielding both quantitative and qualitative analytical information. The dependence of the conductance signal on the NP three-dimensional shape, makes it important to decipher the later with high precision. In collaboration with the work of Prof. Kaplan form the Materials Science and Engineering department at the Technion, we performed a detailed study, based on electron microscopy (EM) analysis to accurately extract the NP shape and correlate it with the observed ion conductance. Furthermore, in order to avoid the elaborated EM work required in order to extract the NPs’ shape, we have developed a computational model that enables constructing the NP shape from the dependence of its conductance on the solution ionic strength. This further enables monitoring dynamic changes in the NP shape during sensing experiments. For further details see our publication in APL.