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Updated: Jan 17, 2026

Monitoring Protein Adsorption with Solid-state Nanopores
Published on: December 2, 2011
Dynamics of single enzymes confined inside a nanopore
Nicole Stéphanie Galenkamp1,2, Marco van den Noort1, Giovanni Maglia1
1Chemical Biology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences & Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen 9747 AG Groningen The Netherlands Giovanni.maglia@rug.nl.
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Enzymes are powerful catalysts that perform chemical reactions with remarkable speed and specificity. Their intrinsic dynamics often play a crucial role in determining their catalytic properties. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of enzymes, a diverse and sophisticated experimental toolbox capable of studying enzyme dynamics at the single-molecule level is necessary. In this review, we discuss nanopore technology as an emerging and powerful platform in single-molecule enzymology. We demonstrate how nanopores can be employed to probe enzyme dynamics in real-time, and we highlight how these studies have contributed to fundamentally and quantitatively elucidating enzymological concepts, such as allostery and hysteresis. Finally, we explore the potentials and limitations of nanopores in advancing single-molecule enzymology. By presenting the unique possibilities offered by nanopores, we aim to inspire the integration of this technology into future enzymology research.
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