Detection and quantification of peptide biomarkers by hybrid nanopores – QuaBioNHy

Personalized medicine is based on medical biology, whose purpose is to define the metabolic profile of patients to adapt their treatment and minimize secondary effects. These metabolic profiles consist of an ensemble of biomarkers, which allow the early diagnosis of diseases like cancer and establish vital prognoses. This proposal aims to develop a biosensor platform based on new hybrid nanopores and electrical detection at the single-molecule level to identify and quantify peptide biomarkers involved in dangerous human diseases like cancer and coagulopathies. By using an engineered protein nanopore inserted into a solid-state nanopore, this project proposes to detect specifically peptides differing by a single amino acid or post-translational modification from patients’ serum at very low concentrations. The channel will be engineered to increase the peptide detection specificity. The hybrid nanopore platform will ensure stable measurements for a longer time than the traditional suspended bilayer system, increasing the detection sensitivity limit.