Watching nanopore capture, translocation, & sensing

A commercial nanopore sequencing company is testing whether its proprietary molecular designs can reliably capture and read individual strands of DNA as they pass through a tiny protein pore. This work addresses a practical gap: academic publications on nanopore sensing often use simplified, idealised molecular setups that may not reflect how real commercial devices perform. Oxford Nanopore Technologies wants to know whether their own tether designs and helicase enzymes—molecules that unwind and control DNA movement—produce consistent, publishable data in a real-world product context. Without this testing, the company cannot be sure that published results from their technology are scientifically robust. If successful, this project will improve the reliability of nanopore DNA sequencing, a technology already used in rapid pathogen detection, cancer diagnostics, and environmental monitoring. More trustworthy data from commercial devices could accelerate clinical decisions and field-based genomic surveillance. The researcher will meet bi-monthly with Dr Matthew Holden, the company’s project lead, to review results. The work is applied and commercially focused, not fundamental science.