Micropatterning of functional lipid bilayer assays for quantitative bioanalysis

Interactions of the cell with its environment are mediated by the cell membrane and membrane-localized molecules. Supported lipid bilayers have enabled the recapitulation of the basic properties of cell membranes and have been broadly used to further our understanding of cellular behavior. Coupled with micropatterning techniques, lipid bilayer platforms have allowed for high throughput assays capable of performing quantitative analysis at a high spatiotemporal resolution. Here, an overview of the current methods of the lipid membrane patterning is presented. The fabrication and pattern characteristics are briefly described to present an idea of the quality and notable features of the methods, their utilizations for quantitative bioanalysis, as well as to highlight possible directions for the advanced micropatterning lipid membrane assays.

Advances of nanopore-based sensing techniques for contaminants evaluation of food and agricultural products

Food safety assurance systems are becoming more stringent in response to the growing food safety problems. Rapid, sensitive, and reliable detection technology is a prerequisite for the establishment of food safety assurance systems. Nanopore technology has been taken as one of the emerging technology capable of dealing with the detection of harmful contaminants as efficiently as possible due to the advantage of label-free, high-throughput, amplification-free, and rapid detection features. Start with the history of nanopore techniques, this review introduced the underlying knowledge of detection mechanism of nanopore-based sensing techniques. Meanwhile, sensing interfaces for the construction of nanopore sensors are comprehensively summarized. Moreover, this review covers the current advances of nanopore techniques in the application of food safety screening. Currently, the establishment of nanopore sensing devices is mainly based on the blocking current phenomenon. Sensing interfaces including biological nanopores, solid-state nanopores, DNA origami, and de novo designed nanopores can be used in the manufacture of sensing devices. Food harmful substances, including heavy metals, veterinary drugs, pesticide residues, food toxins, and other harmful substances can be quickly determined by nanopore-based sensors. Moreover, the combination of nanopore techniques with advanced materials has become one of the most effective methods to improve sensing properties.