A Northwestern research team’s recently published advancements in DNA analysis techniques could be a major leap for the discipline of nanoscience, experts in the field said Thursday.
Along with medical diagnostics, bio-bar-code amplification (BCA) could lead to tremendous improvements in forensic investigation, bioterrorism detection, molecular and biological study, and advancements in technology used by NASA and the U.S. Military.
“This technology could lead to a new era of biosensors,” said Jwa-Min Nam, an NU graduate student who worked on the research team headed by chemistry Prof. Chad Mirkin, director of NU’s Institute for Nanotechnology. “In many respects, this could be a winner.”
The method of DNA analysis commonly used today, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), already is a powerful tool, Nam said. But this new method could isolate the strand of DNA even when other substances are contaminating the sample.
Advancements in nanotechnology, such as BCA, improve DNA analysis by making testing devices more portable, said Meyya Meyyappan, director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Moffett Field, Calif.
Like the NU scientists, Meyyappan and other researchers at the Center for Nanotechnology are developing ways to advance DNA analysis beyond PCR. Meyyappan’s team uses biosensors, which contain a type of carbon in a tube that is about one nanometer in diameter. The goal of their method is to make heavy equipment produced for NASA weigh less.
“Whatever (NASA) takes, we have to make it really lightweight and consume less power,” Meyyappan said. “This is actually the ultimate miniaturization. We pay a premium for weight.”
The easier portability of testing devices made available through the BCA method could improve fields beyond space exploration. Detectives and medical scientists could carry around portable BCA devices, which would improve the efficiency of their work, Nam said.
BCA also could upgrade bioterrorism detection and forensic investigations because it is more sensitive and selective than PCR. With this technology, detecting anthrax — a substance used in the NU team’s research — would be easier and faster, Nam said.
According to Nam, the new technology could be utilized to divine more information about interactions between protein and DNA, improving diagnoses of diseases such as cancer. With BCA as a means of DNA analysis, illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease also could be detectable using a blood test that costs $20 to administer and takes an hour to process, Nam said.
“With our methodology, we should be able to screen the function of a protein, DNA and small molecules without a lot of time and money,” Nam said.
Meyyappan said advancements in this area of nanoscience might make a tremendous impact on the medical field.
Along with faster and cheaper diagnostics, nanotechnology also could lead to hand-held devices that military doctors could use to diagnose injuries on the battlefield during war.
“Anything which is faster, cheaper and smaller is important for the healthcare field and society,” Meyyappan said. “The military’s needs and NASA’s needs are important. Society’s need for healthcare is just gigantic.”
