David Deamer is Research Professor of Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California (Santa Cruz). He recently published First Life: Discovering the Connections Between Stars, Cells, and How Life Began. Deamer’s primary research interest focuses on nucleic acid molecules as they are driven electrophoretically through a nanoscopic channel, or nanopore, embedded in a lipid-bilayer membrane. The presence of the polynucleotide in the channel affects the ionic conductance in a manner related to chain length, concentration and base sequence. This observation has considerable potential for characterizing DNA and RNA in microscopic volumes of nucleic acid solutions. In 2014, Oxford Nanopore Technology introduced the MinION, a portable nanopore sequencing instrument that is now undergoing testing by early users. These include NASA scientists who will send MinIONs to the International Space Station. |
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