Professor Steven A. Soper Receives July 2026 Sutton Family Research Impact Award
The Department of Chemistry congratulates Professor Steven A. Soper on receiving the July 2026 Sutton Family Research Impact Award!
The Sutton Award is a monthly competition among chemistry faculty. Every month, the Chemistry Department Chair and Associate Chairs review the peer-reviewed papers published by chemistry faculty from the three previous months to select a winner. The recipient receives a $500 cash prize and is featured on the departmental website.
For a full list of winners, visit our Sutton Family Research Impact Award webpage.
Plastic Nanofluidic Sensor with a Solid-Phase Bioreactor and Dual Nanopore Reader: Studying Biological Reactions at the Single-Molecule Level
By Indu A. Chandrasoma, Khurshed Akabirov, Oluwadamilola Fateru, Katie Childers, Swarnagowri Vaidyanathan, Sheila M. Barros, Maximillian Chibuike, Suresh Shivanka, Matthew Verber, Collin McKinney, Uditha Athapattu, Pubudu Premarathne, Farhad Shiri, Malgorzata A. Witek, Junseo Choi, Adam R. Hall*, Sunggook Park*, and Steven A. Soper*
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces (2026) 18(28): 38600-38614. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6c08660
The Exonuclease Time-of-Flight (X-ToF) sensor integrates a nanoscale enzymatic bioreactor with a dual in-plane nanopore ToF reader. This sensor enables the precise determination of enzyme dynamics specifically complexation and clipping using a label-free Resistive Pulse Sensing (RPS) method. X-ToF is a nanofluidic chip made from a plastic via nano-injection molding. The example reported in the work used Xrn1 and its substrate, Cas9 RNA. The enzyme dynamics were measured in two steps using X-ToF: (1) Associating an RNA substrate with the surface immobilized processive Xrn1 enzyme; and (2) introduction of the enzyme’s cofactor (Mg+2) to initiate cleavage of the intact RNA molecule into its constituent monomer units (ribonucleotide monophosphates). The article appeared in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (18 (2026) 38600) and was featured as a supplementary cover for the journal.
