マイクロ・ナノ構造体を利用した生体分子解析法の開発と医療応用

Micro- and nanobiodevices, which utilize micro- and nanospace corresponding in size to various biomolecules, are currently accelerating research on medical diagnosis and regenerative medicine. Moreover, novel analytical techniques beyond the past limitations are developed utilizing micro- and nanospace and are achieving an innovation from basic research to clinical diagnosis and therapy. We have developed nanopillar and nanowall array structures for a single molecule measurement and separation sciences, and then, demonstrated unique analytical techniques specific to a precisely defined nanospace. Physicochemical and biological approaches were adopted to understand nanofluidics in these nanospaces and interesting phenomena were found. We are also trying to transfer these micro- and nanodevices to clinical practices. Some examples such as a blood plasma separation device, a therapeutic drug monitoring device, an immuno-pillar device for high-speed and high-sensitivity cancer and disease markers are described in this paper.