Protein nanopore-gated bio-transistor for membrane ionic current recording

Although naturally occurring biological nanopores have shortcomings such as a relatively weak structural durability and a limited life-time, they are still intriguing candidates for nanobiosensing applications due to their sensitivity and specificity to analytes as well as various choices of ion channels depending on functionalities. In order to overcome limitations of biological nanopores, man-made solid-state nanopores have been explored. The fabricated solid-state nanopore is structurally durable and suitable for nanofabrication process yet it is still challenging to construct and a low throughput process, and lacks the chemical specificity of natural ion channels[1]. Can bionanotechnology be applied to improve this situation? Recent work has shown that nanomaterials (nanotubes, nanowires) can be gated by electrolyte, and even coated with lipid bilayers allowing charges of either the bilayer themselves[2]. These reports focus on time average changes in source/drain current due to gating by charges near the nanowire/nanotube. Thus, to date, no nanowire/nanotube device has been able to measure the time-dependent single ion channel recording.