Personalised medicine is a key element to address major global health challenges associated with the inequity of health outcomes and the rising cost of medical treatments. It is thus of great importance to investigate and develop medical technology solutions to overcome these issues. Medical sensors based on nanopore technology have been proven to be a promising approach to develop personalised and portable point-of-care diagnostic systems. Nanopore sensors based on polymers or semiconductors have been utilised for sensing single molecules, nucleic acid analysis, DNA sequencing and quantification of glucose from bodily fluids. During my PhD project, I am aiming on developing a novel silica based nanopore sensor which enables the detection of biomarkers with concentrations of pmol in bodily fluids. Specific objects to achieve my research goal are the design of an electrochemical measurement setup and its characterisation, as well as a systematic characterisation of the nanopore fabrication process. By utilising numerical modelling of the nanopore system, I will optimise parameters for the system. I will also explore other possible applications of the nanopore membranes, such as an electroosmotic pump and power generation – ‘blue energy’.

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