Learning from nature: building bio-inspired smart nanochannels.

Learning from nature has inspired the fabrication of novel artificial materials that enable researchers to understand and to imitate biology. Bio-inspired research, in particular, owes much of its current development to advances in materials science and creative "smart" system design. The development and application of bio-inspired nanochannels is a burgeoning area in this field of research. Bio-inspired nanochannels enable many potential approaches to study various biomolecules in confined spaces and in real-time by current measurements. In this Perspective, we describe how these bio-inspired systems can be used to build novel, smart nanodevices with precisely controlled functions. Applications for these systems range from simulating the process of ion transport in living organisms by using biomimetic nanochannels to applying artificial nanochannel systems to investigate the chemistry, structure, size, and conformational states of biomolecules.