Rapid polymer sequencer
First Claim
1. A method of fabricating a nanopore, the method comprising:
- heating a hollow cylinder of a pipette material, comprising primarily at least one of quartz glass, aluminosilicate glass and borosilicate glass, by a process comprising use of at least one of a laser, an infrared light source and a heated metal for heating one or more locations on the cylinder for a first time interval, the hollow cylinder having first and second cylinder ends, having a longitudinal axis and having a non-zero initial inner diameter; and
applying a machine controlled translation force to translate at least one of the first and second cylinder ends relative to the other of the first and second cylinder ends by a change in end-to-end separation distance no greater than about 2 cm during a second time interval that partly or wholly overlaps the first time interval, in order to encourage the hollow cylinder to separate into at least first and second pipettes, each with a corresponding nanopore, with at least one pore diameter in a range of 1-40 nanometers (nm) and with at least one pore length no greater than about 2 cm.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Method and system for rapid and accurate determination of each of a sequence of unknown polymer components, such as nucleic acid components. A self-assembling monolayer of a selected substance is optionally provided on an interior surface of a pipette tip, and the interior surface is immersed in a selected liquid. A selected electrical field is impressed in a longitudinal direction, or in a transverse direction, in the tip region, a polymer sequence is passed through the tip region, and a change in an electrical current signal is measured as each polymer component passes through the tip region. Each of the measured changes in electrical current signals is compared with a database of reference electrical change signals, with each reference signal corresponding to an identified polymer component, to identify the unknown polymer component with a reference polymer component. The nanopore preferably has a pore inner diameter of no more than about 40 nm and is prepared by heating and pulling a very small section of a glass tubing.
4 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of fabricating a nanopore, the method comprising:
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heating a hollow cylinder of a pipette material, comprising primarily at least one of quartz glass, aluminosilicate glass and borosilicate glass, by a process comprising use of at least one of a laser, an infrared light source and a heated metal for heating one or more locations on the cylinder for a first time interval, the hollow cylinder having first and second cylinder ends, having a longitudinal axis and having a non-zero initial inner diameter; and applying a machine controlled translation force to translate at least one of the first and second cylinder ends relative to the other of the first and second cylinder ends by a change in end-to-end separation distance no greater than about 2 cm during a second time interval that partly or wholly overlaps the first time interval, in order to encourage the hollow cylinder to separate into at least first and second pipettes, each with a corresponding nanopore, with at least one pore diameter in a range of 1-40 nanometers (nm) and with at least one pore length no greater than about 2 cm. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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2. The method of 1, further comprising choosing said heating source from a group of heating sources consisting of a laser, an infrared light source, and a heated metal.
Specification