Development of scanning optofluidic cell lasers for highly sensitive cellular and tissue analysis

Title: Development of scanning optofluidic cell lasers for highly sensitive cellular and tissue analysis

The goal of the project: Develop a novel laser based scanning microscope to study cells and tissues.

Non-Technical Abstract:

The traditional microscope relies on fluorescence to study cells and tissues. However, any small change in cellular activities and tissue structures may not be picked up by the microscope. The proposed project is aimed to develop a laser-based microscope in which laser emission instead of fluorescence is used for detection. Laser emission is much more sensitive than fluorescence. Therefore, small changes in cellular/tissue activities will cause large signals in laser emission, which allows us to study cell and tissues at a more detailed level.

The proposed research will provide a new, powerful, and sensitive platform technology complementary to conventional fluorescence based methods for cell/tissue analysis. The detection principle developed through the project can broadly be applicable to any types of laser cavities and bio-species. The proposed research will further provide in-depth understanding of how light interacts with living organisms and biological materials, which will be significant for the development of novel photonic devices. The students in the project will receive interdisciplinary training in optofluidics, photonics, nano/microfabrication, biochemistry, cell biology, and biosensing. The outreach program will educate the general public and train students/teachers from local high schools and non-research-intensive colleges.

Technical Abstract:

The proposed project is to systematically investigate the biofunctional scanning optofluidic cell laser technology platform and apply it in highly sensitive cell/tissue analysis. The optofluidic laser is an emerging sensing technology that integrates microfluidics, optical microcavity, and gain medium in liquid environment. It employs laser emission as the sensing signal. A small modulation in the gain medium induced by a small change in the underlying biological activities can result in a significant change in the laser output due to optical feedback provided by the laser cavity. Thus, the optofluidic laser based detection is orders of magnitude more sensitive than the fluorescence counterpart. The proposed scanning optofluidic laser is based on a high-performance laser cavity and cells/tissues containing gain media. The laser output will be recorded for detailed understanding of cellular/tissue activities.

The proposed research will provide a new, powerful, and sensitive platform technology complementary to conventional fluorescence based methods for cell/tissue analysis. The detection principle developed through the project can broadly be applicable to any types of laser cavities and bio-species. Furthermore, study of the optofluidic cell lasers will provide in-depth understanding of how light interacts with living organisms and biological materials, which will be significant for the development of novel photonic devices. The students in the project will receive interdisciplinary training in optofluidics, photonics, nano/microfabrication, biochemistry, cell biology, and biosensing. The outreach program will educate the general public and train students/teachers from local high schools and non-research-intensive colleges.