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

本项目的目标是开发一种新型的基于激光的扫描显微镜来研究细胞和组织。非技术摘要：传统的显微镜依靠荧光来研究细胞和组织。然而，细胞活动和组织结构的任何微小变化都可能无法被显微镜观察到。该项目的目的是开发一种激光显微镜，其中使用激光发射而不是荧光进行检测。激光发射比荧光敏感得多。因此，细胞/组织活动的微小变化将导致激光发射的大信号，从而使我们能够更详细地研究细胞和组织，该研究将为传统的基于荧光的细胞/组织分析方法提供一个新的、强大的、灵敏的平台技术。通过该项目开发的探测原理可广泛适用于任何类型的激光腔和生物物种。这项拟议的研究将进一步深入了解光如何与活的有机体和生物材料相互作用，这将对开发新型光子器件具有重要意义。该项目的学生将接受光流体学、光子学、纳米/微制造、生物化学、细胞生物学和生物传感的跨学科培训。该推广计划将教育普通公众，并培训来自当地高中和非科研密集型大学的学生/教师。技术摘要：拟议的项目是系统地研究生物功能扫描光流控细胞激光技术平台，并将其应用于高灵敏细胞/组织分析。光流控激光器是一种集微流体、光学微腔和液体环境中的增益介质为一体的新兴传感技术。它采用激光发射作为传感信号。由于激光腔提供的光反馈，由潜在生物活动的微小变化引起的增益介质中的小调制可能导致激光输出的显著变化。因此，基于光流控激光的检测比基于荧光的检测要敏感几个数量级。提出的扫描光流控激光器是基于一个高性能的激光腔和含有增益介质的细胞/组织。激光输出将被记录下来，以详细了解细胞/组织的活动。拟议的研究将提供一个新的、强大的、敏感的平台技术，补充传统的基于荧光的细胞/组织分析方法。通过该项目开发的探测原理可广泛适用于任何类型的激光腔和生物物种。此外，对光流控细胞激光器的研究将有助于深入了解光如何与活体和生物材料相互作用，这将对开发新型光子器件具有重要意义。该项目的学生将接受光流体学、光子学、纳米/微制造、生物化学、细胞生物学和生物传感的跨学科培训。外展计划将教育普通公众，并培训来自当地高中和非研究密集型大学的学生/教师。

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