Amit Meller, Ph.D.

photo of Dr. Meller

Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Ph.D. Physics and Biophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science
M.Sc. Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science
B.Sc. Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University

Phone: (617) 358-4338
Email: ameller@bu.edu
Website: www.bu.edu/meller/
Office: ERB 701C

Research Interests

Dr. Meller’s research is directed toward the development of novel experimental techniques for the study of biomolecular interactions and dynamics, at the single molecule or at the single complex level. In particular, his research is focused on:

  • Employing nanopore force spectroscopy to study RNA unfolding and re-folding kinetics
  • DNA switches and transcription initiation kinetics
  • RNA helicases activity
  • Mapping of transcription factors interactions with DNA
  • Ultra-fast DNA sequencing
  • Development of novel optical methods for single molecule detection in biomedical applications

Selected Recent Publications

Singer, A., M. Wanunu, W. Morrison, H. Kuhn, M. Frank-Kamenetskii, and A. Meller. “Nanopore-based sequence-specific detection of duplex DNA for genomic profiling” Nano Letters. 10: 738-742. (2010)

Soni, V. G., A. Singer, Z. Yu, Y. Sun, B. McNally, and A. Meller. “Synchronous optical and electrical detection of bio-molecules traversing through solid-state nanopores” Rev. Sci. Instru. 81: 014301-014307. (2010)

Wanunu, M., W. Morrison, Y. Rabin, A. Y. Grosberg, and A. Meller. “Electrostatic Focusing of Unlabeled DNA into Nanoscale Pores using a Salt Gradient” Nature Nanotechnology. 5: 160-165. (2009)

Wanunu, M., J. Sutin, and A. Meller. “DNA Profiling Using Solid-State Nanopores: Detection of DNA-Binding Molecules” Nano Letters. 9: 3498–3502. (2009)

Valencia-Burton, M., A. Shah, J. Sutin, A. Borogovac, R. M. McCullough, R. C. Cantor, A. Meller, and N. E. Broude. “Spatiotemporal patterns and transcription kinetics of induced RNA in single bacterial cells” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 106: 16399-16404. (2009)

Dudko, O., and A. Meller. “Probing Biomolecular Interactions Using Nanopore Force Spectroscopy” In Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry. R. A. Meyers, editor. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. (2009)

Wanunu, M., J. Sutin, B. McNally, A. Chow, and A. Meller. “DNA Translocation Governed by Interactions with Solid State Nanopores” Biophys. J. 95: 4716–4725. (2008)

Wanunu, M., B. Chakrabarti, J. Mathé, D. R. Nelson, and A. Meller. “Orientation Dependent Interactions of DNA with an α-Hemolysin Channel” Phys. Rev. E. 77: 031904. (2008)

McNally, B., M. Wanunu, and A. Meller. “Electro-mechanical unzipping of individual DNA molecules using synthetic sub-2 nm pores” Nano Letters. 8: 3418-3422. (2008)

Hornblower, B., A. Coombs, R. D. Whitaker, A. Kolomeisky, S. J. Picone, A. Meller, and M. Akeson. “Rapid Single-Molecule Kinetic Analysis of DNA-Protein Complexes” Nature Methods. 4: 315-317. (2007)

Wanunu, M., and A. Meller. “Chemically-Modified Solid-State Nanopores” Nano Letters. 7: 1580-1585. (2007)

Edel, J. B., J. S. Eid, and A. Meller. “Accurate single molecule FRET efficiency determination for surface immobilized DNA using maximum likelihood calculated lifetimes” J. Phys. Chem. B. 111: 2986-2990. (2007)

Dudko, O., J. Mathé, A. Szabo, A. Meller, and G. Hummer. “Extracting kinetics from single-molecule force spectroscopy: Nanopore unzipping of DNA hairpins” Biophys. J. 92: 4188-4195. (2007)

Kim, M.-J., M. Wanunu, C. D. Bell, and A. Meller. “Rapid Fabrication of Uniform Size Nanopores and Nanopore Arrays for Parallel DNA Analysis” Adv. Mater. 18: 3149-3153. (2006)