Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DYNAMO (DYnamic control in hybrid plasmonic NAnopores: road to next generation multiplexed single MOlecule detection)
Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-08-31
DYNAMO is designed as an innovative and pioneering training network, with the unique vision of developing the next-generation hybrid nanopore technology exploiting DNA nanostructures integrated with multifunctional solid-state platforms, by:
• Bringing together a unique team of 6 world-leading academic groups, at the forefront of nanoscience and single molecule sensing and manipulation, and 1 high tech company, to translate the innovations into real-world applications;
• Training 10 Junior Researchers (JR) on a unique mix of experimental and computational skills at the physics/chemistry/biotechnology interface;
• Enabling technological advances through the combination of enhanced optical spectroscopies, (magneto)plasmonics and DNA nanotechnology. This will lead to the development of nanopore technologies with unprecedented functionality and single molecule control;
• Reaching single molecule capturing and tweezing functionality in solid-state nanopore in a way that has not been possible before. This will pave the way to fascinating new discoveries into the fundamental structures of biomolecules and the interaction forces among them.
• Bringing together a unique team of 6 world-leading academic groups, at the forefront of nanoscience and single molecule sensing and manipulation, and 1 high tech company, to translate the innovations into real-world applications;
• Training 10 Junior Researchers (JR) on a unique mix of experimental and computational skills at the physics/chemistry/biotechnology interface;
• Enabling technological advances through the combination of enhanced optical spectroscopies, (magneto)plasmonics and DNA nanotechnology. This will lead to the development of nanopore technologies with unprecedented functionality and single molecule control;
• Reaching single molecule capturing and tweezing functionality in solid-state nanopore in a way that has not been possible before. This will pave the way to fascinating new discoveries into the fundamental structures of biomolecules and the interaction forces among them.
The consortium of Dynamo comprises 11 PhD students working, following an highly collaborative approach, on 11 individual projects related to single molecule technologies.
DYNAMO is at the mid term and all the individual projects are now starting to produce scientific results.
DYNAMO is structured in different WPs, 3 of them are related to scientific tasks. Below a summary of the main achievements obtained so far is discussed, divided per WPs.
Work Package 3 - Design and nanofabrication of hybrid structures
This WP includes 4 tasks on the design, fabrication and optimization of solid-state and hybrid structures for single molecule experiments.
Several PhD students (here called JRs) are working on this WP. So far, the consortium was able to demonstrate novel 2D and 3D nanopores designs (subject of recent publications Lanzavecchia et al. Nano Letters 2024 and Douaki et al. Adv. Opt. Mat. 2024) not only enabling single molecule sensing, but also implementing additional functionalities such as gating and memristive properties.
In addition to this, the consortium demonstrated the use of plasmonic nanocavities in the study of nanoscale emitters (subject of a recent publication Veedu et al. Nanoscale Adv. 2024).
Finally, within a collaboration between two beneficiaries and three JRs, we demonstrated the use of a novel plasmonic platform to explore SERS in the UV spectral range (subject of the recent publication Banerejee et al. Material Advances 2024).
Work Package 4 - Nanotraps for molecule movement control
This WP includes 2 tasks on the demonstration of magneto-plasmonic trapping in plasmonic nanocavities.
The consortium is actively working towards this innovative goal and so far we were able to fabricate hybrid solid-state nanopores with magnetic functionalities and to test them for single particle trapping.
The collaboration between different beneficiaries and JRs enabled also to develop a novel model to simulate the properties of such novel systems.
Work Package 5 - Single molecule electro-optical detection
This WP includes 5 tasks on the demonstration of novel methods for the electro-optical detection of single molecules using the hybrid platforms developed within the project.
The consortium is following different strategies towards the demonstration of novel electro-optical single molecule detection. So far, we focused on optical spectroscopies based on SERS and fluorescence to demonstrate how plasmonic nanocavities prepared within DYNAMO can ensure efficient sensing. As reported in Veedu et al. Nanoscale Adv. 2024 and Banerejee et al. Material Advances 2024, we already obtained interesting results using these two techniques.
Regarding nanopore experiments, we are working on the optimization of solid-state and hybrid pores for single molecule detection using both electrical and optical read-out. As demonstrated in Lanzavecchia et al. Nano Letters 2024, the consortium has now a novel solid-state platform with nice functionalities in electrical read.out but easily to be modified in order to implement optical read-out also.
DYNAMO is at the mid term and all the individual projects are now starting to produce scientific results.
DYNAMO is structured in different WPs, 3 of them are related to scientific tasks. Below a summary of the main achievements obtained so far is discussed, divided per WPs.
Work Package 3 - Design and nanofabrication of hybrid structures
This WP includes 4 tasks on the design, fabrication and optimization of solid-state and hybrid structures for single molecule experiments.
Several PhD students (here called JRs) are working on this WP. So far, the consortium was able to demonstrate novel 2D and 3D nanopores designs (subject of recent publications Lanzavecchia et al. Nano Letters 2024 and Douaki et al. Adv. Opt. Mat. 2024) not only enabling single molecule sensing, but also implementing additional functionalities such as gating and memristive properties.
In addition to this, the consortium demonstrated the use of plasmonic nanocavities in the study of nanoscale emitters (subject of a recent publication Veedu et al. Nanoscale Adv. 2024).
Finally, within a collaboration between two beneficiaries and three JRs, we demonstrated the use of a novel plasmonic platform to explore SERS in the UV spectral range (subject of the recent publication Banerejee et al. Material Advances 2024).
Work Package 4 - Nanotraps for molecule movement control
This WP includes 2 tasks on the demonstration of magneto-plasmonic trapping in plasmonic nanocavities.
The consortium is actively working towards this innovative goal and so far we were able to fabricate hybrid solid-state nanopores with magnetic functionalities and to test them for single particle trapping.
The collaboration between different beneficiaries and JRs enabled also to develop a novel model to simulate the properties of such novel systems.
Work Package 5 - Single molecule electro-optical detection
This WP includes 5 tasks on the demonstration of novel methods for the electro-optical detection of single molecules using the hybrid platforms developed within the project.
The consortium is following different strategies towards the demonstration of novel electro-optical single molecule detection. So far, we focused on optical spectroscopies based on SERS and fluorescence to demonstrate how plasmonic nanocavities prepared within DYNAMO can ensure efficient sensing. As reported in Veedu et al. Nanoscale Adv. 2024 and Banerejee et al. Material Advances 2024, we already obtained interesting results using these two techniques.
Regarding nanopore experiments, we are working on the optimization of solid-state and hybrid pores for single molecule detection using both electrical and optical read-out. As demonstrated in Lanzavecchia et al. Nano Letters 2024, the consortium has now a novel solid-state platform with nice functionalities in electrical read.out but easily to be modified in order to implement optical read-out also.
The consortium of DYNAMO, and in particular the JRs involved in the project, are collecting significant scientific and technological results. So far, the results beyond the state of the art are demonstrated in the 7 international publications (three of them with Impact factor >10).
More results are expected in the second half of the project.
More results are expected in the second half of the project.