RGCB team builds nanopore sensors for early detection of Parkinson's, ALS

Researchers at the BRIC-Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (BRIC-RGCB) in Keralam have developed a nanopore-based sensing technology that could enable earlier detection and monitoring of biomarkers associated with neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The team, led by Mahendran K.R. and including PhD student Varsha Shaji and postdoctoral researcher Neethu Puthumadathil, designed what the institute describes as "self-assembling dual-diameter" nanopore sensors capable of detecting such biomarkers with high sensitivity. The findings have been published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Biomarkers serve as indicators of disease and are central to early detection, but conventional techniques struggle to pick them up at the earliest stages, when they are often present only at extremely low concentrations. Nanopores — minute hollow structures — offer an alternative route to sensing such molecules.

In the new approach, the researchers designed short peptides that assemble into pores of differing sizes, creating a flexible platform for detecting biomolecules of varied shapes and dimensions. According to the institute, the sensors can distinguish between disease-associated and non-disease-associated forms of the biomarkers even when these are present at very low concentrations within complex protein mixtures.

The institute said the sensors could in future support the development of point-of-care devices that detect biomarkers for a range of diseases, including cancer, directly from biological fluids such as blood.

BRIC-RGCB director Beena Pillai said early and accurate detection remains a major challenge in managing neurodegenerative diseases, and that the nanopore sensor platform illustrates how nanotechnology and biotechnology can converge to address a critical unmet need in health care.

The work was carried out with Ulrich Kleinekathöfer's group at Constructor University, Germany, and Krishnananda Chattopadhyay's group at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR-IICB), Kolkata. It was supported by grants from the Department of Biotechnology, the Department of Science and Technology, the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.