Molecular and atomic scale evaluation of biopolymers
AssigneePresident and Fellows of Harvard College
InventorsDaniel Branton, Jene A. Golovchenko, Timothy J. Denison
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for evaluating a polymer molecule including linearly connected monomer residues includes providing a polymer molecule in a liquid, contacting the liquid with an insulating solid-state membrane having a detector capable of detecting polymer molecule characteristics, and causing the polymer molecule to traverse a limited region of the solid-state membrane so that monomers of the polymer molecule traverse the limit region in sequential order, whereby the polymer molecule interacts linearly with the detector and data suitable to determine polymer molecule characteristics are obtained. The limited region may be defined by a nanometer-sized aperture in the membrane.
Claims76
An apparatus for use in evaluating a linear polymer molecule, comprising:
- a vessel for holding a liquid containing a candidate polymer molecule;
- a solid-state membrane containing an aperture therein, said aperture comprising a constraining dimension, wherein the aperture includes an entry port and an exit port defining a channel there between, and wherein the membrane is positioned to be contactable with a liquid in the vessel;
- means for causing a candidate polymer molecule to linearly traverse the aperture;
- and
- a detector for detecting sensing time-dependent or monomer-dependent interactions of a candidate molecule with the aperture detector, said detector located in the aperture or on a face of the solid-state membrane.
An apparatus for use in evaluating a linear polymer molecule, comprising:
- a first vessel having a first inlet therein;
- a second vessel having a second inlet therein;
- an elongated member having first and second ends, each end in sealing communication with the respective inlets of the first and second vessels;
- a solid-state membrane containing an electrically insulating aperture therein disposed in the first end of the elongated member, wherein the aperture includes an entry port and an exit port defining a channel there between, and the membrane is positioned to be contactable with a liquid containing a candidate polymer molecule in the first vessel;
- means for causing a candidate polymer molecule to linearly traverse the aperture;
- and
- a detector for sensing time-dependent or monomer-dependent interactions of a candidate molecule with the detector, said detector located in the aperture or on a face of the solid-state membrane .
A method for evaluating a polymer molecule, the polymer molecule including linearly connected monomer residues, comprising:
- contacting a liquid containing a polymer molecule with an insulating solid-state substrate having a detector capable of detecting polymer molecule characteristics;
- causing the polymer molecule to traverse a limited volume on the solid-state substrate so that monomers of the polymer molecule traverse the limited volume in sequential order, whereby the polymer molecule interacts sequentially with the detector, whereby the detector comprises an electrode pair, and electron current is detected as the monomer traverses the limited volume and data suitable to determine polymer molecule characteristics are obtained.
A method for evaluating a polymer molecule, the polymer molecule including linearly connected monomer residues, comprising:
- contacting a liquid containing a polymer molecule with an insulating solid-state membrane having an aperture therein, wherein the aperture includes an entry port and an exit port defining a channel there between,
- causing the polymer molecule to traverse the aperture of the membrane, whereby the polymer molecule interacts sequentially with a constraining dimension in, of or at the aperture and data arising from time-dependent or monomer-dependent interactions of a candidate molecule with a detector located in the aperture or on a face of the solid-state membrane are obtained.
A method for evaluating a polymer molecule, the polymer molecule including linearly connected monomer residues, comprising:
- providing a candidate hybridized polynucleotide molecule in a liquid;
- contacting a liquid containing a candidate hybridized polynucleotide molecule with an insulating solid-state membrane having an aperture therein, said aperture having a diameter insufficient to permit traversal of the hybridized molecule of the aperture;
- causing the candidate polymer molecule to traverse the aperture of the membrane, whereby the hybridized polymer molecule is denatured and the single-stranded polymer interacts sequentially with the aperture and data suitable to determine polymer molecule characteristics are obtained.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.