Giovanni Maglia

Dr. G. Maglia was born in Bologna, Italy and studied Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Bologna. In 1998 he completed his Master degree at the University of Pennsylvania, US. In 2004 he obtained a PhD in Chemistry at the University of  Birmingham, UK. Afterwards, he went to the University of Leuven, Belgium for a post-doc in Physical Biochemistry. From February 2006 Dr. Maglia is a senior post-doc in Prof. Bayley’s group.

http://bayley.chem.ox.ac.uk/Giovanni's%20page.htm

Sequencing single DNA molecules with biological nanopores

The analysis of single nucleic acid molecules by electrophoretic threading through both protein and artificial nanopores nanopores is under intense investigation as a rapid, low cost platform for DNA sequencing. A price of say $1,000 per human genome would be a turning point in genomic medicine. At that price, many people could afford to have their genomes sequenced and personalized medicine would become a reality.

There are several challenges to nanopore sequencing including the handling and threading of long DNA molecules, the control of translocation speed and the identification of single DNA bases. Here I discuss the advance towards nanopore sequencing using staphylococcal a-hemolysin (aHL) nanopores, which have the crucial advantage over artificial nanopores that site-directed mutagenesis permits precise tuning of its properties.