Steve Soper,
Foundation Distinguished Professor, Director, Center of BioModular Multi-scale System for Precision Medicine,
The University of Kansas
Prof. Soper (since 2016) is a Foundation Distinguished Professor in Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kansas. At KUMC, Prof. Soper holds an adjunct appointment in the Cancer Biology Department and is a member of the KU Cancer Center. He also holds an appointment at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Ulsan, South Korea, where he is a World Class University Professor.
As a result of his efforts, Prof. Soper has secured extramural funding totaling >$125M, has published over 245 peer-reviewed manuscripts (h index = 70; >17,000 citations); 31 book chapters and 71 peer-reviewed conference proceeding papers, and is the author of 12 patents. He is also the founder of a startup company, BioFluidica, which is marketing devices for the isolation and enumeration of liquid biopsy markers. Soper recently founded a second company, Sunflower Genomics, which is seeking to market a new DNA/RNA single-molecule sequencing platform. His list of awards includes Ralph Adams Award in Bioanalytical Chemistry, Chemical Instrumentation by the American Chemical Society, the Benedetti-Pichler Award for Microchemistry, Fellow of the AAAS, Fellow of Applied Spectroscopy, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, R&D 100 Award, Distinguished Masters Award at LSU and Outstanding Scientist/Engineer in the state of Louisiana in 2001. Finally, Prof. Soper has granted 50 PhDs and 7 MS degrees to students under his mentorship. He currently heads a group of 15 researchers.
His major discoveries include: (1) Technology for the detection of liquid biopsy markers that can manage a variety of diseases using a simple blood test (test has been demonstrated in multiple myeloma, pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, pancreatic, breast, colorectal, prostate, and ovarian cancers); (2) new hardware and assay for the point-of-care diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke; (3) single-molecule DNA and RNA sequencing nanotechnology; and (4) currently working on a home-test for COVID-19 infections (handheld instrument and the associated assay.
RNA Sequencing using a Nanofluidic Device with Dual In-Plane Nanopore Sensors
Thursday, 5 October 2023 at 14:00
Add to Calendar ▼2023-10-05 14:00:002023-10-05 15:00:00Europe/LondonRNA Sequencing using a Nanofluidic Device with Dual In-Plane Nanopore SensorsLab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidics Asia 2023 in Tokyo, JapanTokyo, JapanSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
With the development of next generation sequencing (NGS), the field of transcriptomics has seen tremendous advancements opening up opportunities for improved diagnostics of diseases such as cancers and infectious diseases. RNA sequencing enables measurement of single nucleotide variants (SNVs), insertions and deletions, detection of different transcript isoforms, splice variants, and chimeric gene fusions. Although NGS has been useful for unraveling RNA structure and function, several technical difficulties remain including the need for reverse transcription and PCR amplification, which can mask epitranscriptomic modifications. To address NGS issues, we are developing an exciting new sequencing technology called Exonuclease Time-of-Flight (X-ToF) for the label-free detection and identification of single molecules. The hypothesis behind X-ToF is, “individual molecules moving electrokinetically through a 2D nanotube will experience a time-of-flight (ToF) that is dependent upon its molecular identity.” X-ToF is a nanofluidic device comprised of input/output channels, a nano-scale enzymatic bioreactor, and a flight tube equipped with a pair of in-plane nanopores to measure the ToF of a single ribonucleotide monophosphate (rNMP). Each rNMP is produced from an unamplified RNA molecule using a processive exoribonuclease, XRN1. In this presentation we will discuss the high rate manufacturing of the X-ToF chip with sub-5 nm in-plane nanopores using nano-injection molding from a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) plastic. The in-plane pores are situated at either end of a nanochannel (50 x 50 nm; 5 µm long) that generate current transient signals to detect and deduce the identity of rNMPs. The ToF is dependent on the apparent electrophoretic mobility of the molecule. The identity is determined from the ToF, the current transient amplitudes, and dwell times using multi-parameter Principle Component Analysis (PCA). We will show the ability to detect (detection efficiency ~100%) single rNMPs with identification accuracies >98%. Finally, we will discuss the generation of solid-phase nano-bioreactors using XRN1, which can cleave ssRNA in the 5’ to 3’direction releasing rNMPs. Unique properties of the immobilized enzyme will be presented in terms of its processivity and kinetic rate of cleaving single RNA molecules.
Add to Calendar ▼2023-10-05 00:00:002023-10-06 00:00:00Europe/LondonLab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidics Asia 2023Lab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidics Asia 2023 in Tokyo, JapanTokyo, JapanSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com