Single-molecule barcoded biosensor

Over 70% of healthcare interventions in the UK are already based on one or more diagnostic tests, very often involving the determination of the concentration of proteins – or biomarkers – in a patient’s blood. However, with the emergence of stratified and eventually personalised medicine, which requires the detection of very small numbers of proteins, eventually down to the single molecule levels, current diagnostic approaches have reached their limit.

You will work with a novel platform exploiting the single-molecule sensing capabilities of nanopipettes and the versatility of DNA nanotechnology. This project will build upon our proof-of-concept work to develop novel DNA scaffolds that will simultaneously carry a unique barcode and a recognition element for a specific disease biomarker. The nanopipette will be used as a single molecule reader to read the barcode and the presence/absence of the biomarker with single molecule precision.

In this project, we will develop DNA nanostructures with specific recognition elements for important infection biomarkers and will demonstrate the detection of sub-fM concentrations in small volumes of sample. You will have the opportunity to work with colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine and Health as well as the Leeds Teaching Hospital to validate our device with patients’ samples. The project will span the discipline of single molecule biophysics, DNA nanotechnology, and biosensing, but also medicine.