“Nanopore Sensor Captures Protein Hub’s Binding Behaviors”

Research from Liviu Movileanu, professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, and graduate students Lauren Ashley Mayse and Ali Imran was featured in the Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News story “Nanopore Sensor Captures Protein Hub’s Binding Behaviors.” The team of researchers designed a highly sensitive sensor that is able to identify proteins in solutions down to a single molecule.

Movileanu explained that the project aims to help detect chemical markers of disease in the body as soon as they start to develop, which may help to detect cancer. “In the majority of cancers, you have a situation where at least one protein sits on another protein or talks to another protein for much longer than needed. Many biotechnology companies want to develop drugs that perturb those interactions,” Movileanu said.