Leon Seggering

Doctoral project

Multiplexed readout of single molecules of DNA in plastic lab-on-a-chip devices

This Ph.D. project is focused on significantly enhancing the resolution and accessibility of single-molecule detection for DNA and other biomolecules. New nanoscale techniques and structures in nanofluidic devices will be designed to elongate DNA molecules inside nanochannels, thereby enabling the readout of a fluorescent signal that is dependent on the genome of the molecule. A key advantage of these nanofluidic devices is their capacity for high-throughput and rapid analysis. But still, the readout resolution is limited by the diffraction limit, and to only one nanochannel at the time. These issues are aimed to be solved by the use of nanowires. New designs promise to replace complex and sensitive laser setups and photon counters commonly used in current methodologies. This advancement paves the way for developing a portable device for high resolution DNA analysis, which could have a broad range of applications, including point-of-care diagnostics and early disease detection.