Mimicking nature at the nanoscale: Selective transport across a biomimetic nanopore
Researchers at Delft University of Technology and the University of Basel have established a biomimetic nanopore that provides a unique test and measurement platform for the way that proteins move into a cell's nucleus. In the journal Nature Nanotechnology, they report an artificial nanopore that is functionalized with key proteins which mimicks the natural nuclear pore. Upon testing the transport of individual proteins through the biomimetic pore, they found that most proteins cannot move through, but some specific ones can indeed pass. This is the hallmark of the intriguing selectivity that is also found in natural pores. The biomimetic pore is fully functional and can be used as a testing platform for studies of drug delivery into a cell's nucleus.