Oxford Nanopore Technologies has developed a proprietary array chip for nanopore sensing. For the first time this array chip allows our researchers to record measurements of multiple nanopores in parallel, effectively running a large number of single experiments at the same time.
This chip comprises a series of microwells arrayed on a silicon chip, each well an individual electronic channel. Through simple fluidics a lipid bilayer can be created
in situ at the top of these microwells.
Our nanopore constructs are then added to the chip, where they naturally place themselves inside the lipid bilayers. A single nanopore in a single bilayer creates a single biosensor channel. Hence, on the array chip, a series of individually recordable nanopore sensors are arrayed on silicon.
The image below shows an area selected from an array chip with multiple microwells, each a single electronic channel.
The sensor chip is agnostic to the type of nanopore being placed within it; different varieties of nanopore sensor may be used within the same platform. The chip+nanopores is coupled with an electronic reader system and low cost instrument to complete the platform technology.
