Recent trends in nanopores for biotechnology

Nanopore technology employs a nanoscale hole in an insulating membrane to stochastically sense with high throughput individual biomolecules in solution. The generality of the nanopore detection principle and the ease of single-molecule detection suggest many potential applications of nanopores in biotechnology. Recent progress has been made with nanopore fabrication and sophistication, as well as with applications in DNA/protein mapping, biomolecular structure analysis, protein detection, and DNA sequencing. In addition, concepts for DNA sequencing devices have been suggested, and computational efforts have been made. The state of the nanopore field is maturing and given the right type of nanopore and operating conditions, nearly every application could revolutionize medicine in terms of speed, cost, and quality. In this review, we summarize progress in nanopores for biotechnological applications over the past 2–3 years.

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► Nanopores are single-molecule detectors with exceptional sensitivity and versatility.
► Over the past few years, progress has been made in making and using nanopores in biotechnology.
► Nanopore-based DNA sequencing can revolutionize healthcare by reducing both sequencing costs and time.