DIVISION OF FOOD SYSTEMS AND BIOENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
Food for the Twenty-First Century
Bioprocessing and Biosensing Center
Spring 2015 Seminar Series
PRESENTER:
Dr. Jiwook Shim, Research Scientist
Micro & Nanotechnology Laboratory, University of Illinois-U brana-Champaign
TITLE:
Nanopore-Based Detection of Biomarker for Cancer
Diagnostics
ABSTRACT:
DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification of DNA in which methyl groups are added at the 5-carbon
position of cytosine (5mC). Aberrant DNA methylation, which has been associated with carcinogenesis,
can be assessed in various biological fluids and potentially be used as biomarkers for detection of cancer.
In this talk, I will present a nanopore-based direct methylation detection assay using methyl-binding
proteins (MBPs), which selectively label the methylated DNA. The nanopore-based assay selectively
detects methylated DNA/MBP complexes through a 19 nm nanopore with significantly deeper and
prolonged nanopore ionic current blocking, while unmethylated DNA molecules were not detectable due
to their smaller diameter. Discrimination of hypermethylated and unmethylated DNA on 90 bp, 60 bp, and
30 bp DNA fragments was demonstrated using sub 10 nm nanopores. Hypermethylated DNA fragments
fully bound with MBP are differentiated from unmethylated DNA at 2.1-fold to 6.5-fold current blockades
and 4.5-fold to 23.3-fold transport durations. Furthermore, these nanopore assays can detect CpG dyads in
DNA fragments and could someday profile the position of methylated CpG sites on DNA fragments.
BIOGRAPHICAL:
Jiwook Shim obtained M.S. in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Ph.D. in Dr.
Gu’s laboratory in the department of Bioengineering at University of Missouri in 2004 and 2008,
respectively, and he continued working another year as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Gu. Through his
research in MU, Dr. Shim published 5 peer-reviewed articles, 2 review papers, and 1 book chapter. This
research made a foundation to pursue nanopore-based single-molecule assay technology for biomedical
application. In 2009, Dr. Shim joined Beckman Institute for advanced science and technology at
University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign (UIUC) as a postdoctoral research associate, and then he
continued working as postdoctoral research associate at Micro and Nanotechnolgy Laboratory at UIUC.
Jiwook Shim is currently a research scientist, leading the solid-state nanopore group under Prof. Rashid
Bashir’s direction, working on novel applications of nanotechnology for healthcare and developing a
method to utilize nanotechnology for disease diagnostics tools. During his postdoctoral research period, he
published 9 peer-reviewed articles, 2 proceedings, 1 news, 1 book chapter, and 1 patent.
DATE • TIME • LOCATION:
Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 4:00 PM, 107 Agricultural Engineering Building
The Food for the 21st Century (F21C) program at the University of Missouri (MU) was established in the mid-1980's through state funding. The overall
goal of the program is to help Missouri food producers and processors maintain their competitive edge in the global marketplace by conducting cuttingedge research in a number of food-related areas. The program involves faculty researchers from multiple colleges including College of Agriculture, Food
and Natural Resources; College of Arts and Sciences; College of Engineering; School of Medicine; College of Human Environmental Sciences; and
College of Veterinary Medicine. Based on the research emphases, the researchers are grouped into four Clusters: Plant Biotechnology; Animal
Reproduction; Bioprocessing and Biosensing Center; and Human Nutrition.
Bioprocessing and Biosensing Center was formed in 1986. The Center currently consists of 27 faculty members, plus collaborators, support staff, and
graduate students from six departments in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and College of Engineering. These departments
include Bioengineering; Food Science; Animal Sciences; Chemical Engineering; Electrical Engineering; and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
This seminar is one of the educational activities in the Bioprocessing and Biosensing Center.
Cluster Co-Leaders: Drs. Fu-hung Hsieh and Jinglu Tan
Department of Bioengineering, 254 Ag Eng, 1406 E. Rollins Street , Columbia, MO 65211 -5200
Phone: 573.882-7044
Fax: 573.882.1115
For More Information: Linda Little (573-882-7044)
F21C Seminar W eb: http://fsb.missouri.edu/seminars/
Bioengineering W eb: bioengineering.missouri.edu/