Collaborative Research: Evaporation-Driven Optofluidic Biosensors using Photonic Crystal Biosilica

本研究项目的目标是探索利用天然存在的硅藻对生物物质的传感，硅藻是一组在自然界中发现的单细胞藻类，已被证明具有适合生物传感应用的独特特性。这项研究可能会带来检测多种生物分子的新方法，从而对污染监测、有害物质检测和早期疾病诊断产生积极影响。这项研究与教育和推广工作的结合使俄勒冈州立大学和华盛顿州立大学温哥华分校的研究生和本科生受益。关于纳米光子技术和微流体的项目主题正在被添加到这些机构的课程中，并且正在努力通过夏季研究项目扩大这些机构中代表性不足的少数民族、妇女和K-12学生的参与。在微纳米结构中，蒸发诱导的毛细管流动可以在没有外部泵的情况下维持液体流动，这可能是生物传感的理想特征。本研究项目的目标是利用硅藻光子晶体生物二氧化硅开发一种新型蒸发驱动的光流体生物传感器。硅藻是一种单细胞光合藻类，利用生物化学途径进行生物矿化和自组装三维光子晶体，具有独特的光子和微纳米流体特性。主要有三个目的：1)研究硅藻生物二氧化硅排列微孔和纳米孔中蒸发诱导的毛细力；2)开发一种光流体生物传感器，通过孔内等离子体纳米粒子增强光物质相互作用；3)利用表面增强拉曼散射（SERS）传感技术，使芯片上的实验室光流体传感系统能够检测痕量生物标志物，特别是作为过敏生物标志物的组胺。这项研究可能导致许多小生物分子的无标签传感，这将对污染监测，有害物质检测和早期疾病诊断产生积极影响。该项目的研究和教育部分的协同作用使俄勒冈州立大学和华盛顿州立大学温哥华分校的研究生和本科生受益，通过加强他们的纳米光子技术和微流体主题课程。该研究项目还包括通过暑期研究项目扩大代表性不足的少数民族、妇女和K-12学生的参与。

The goal of this research project is to explore sensing of biological substances using naturally occurring diatoms, which are a group of single-celled algae found in nature that have been shown to possess unique properties suitable for biosensing applications. This research could lead to new methods to detect many types of biomolecules, which would in turn positively impact pollution monitoring, hazardous material detection, and early disease diagnosis. The integration of this research with education and outreach efforts benefits both graduate and undergraduate students at Oregon State University and Washington State University-Vancouver. Programmatic topics on nanophotonic technology and microfluidics are being added to curricula of these institutions, and efforts are underway to try to broaden the participation of under-represented minorities, women and K-12 students at these institutions through the summer research programs. Evaporation-induced capillary flow in micro- and nano-scale structures can sustain a liquid flow without external pumps, and this can be a desirable feature for biosensing. The goal of this research project is to develop a new type of evaporation-driven, optofluidic biosensor using diatom photonic crystal biosilica. Diatoms are a group of single-celled photosynthetic algae that use biochemical pathways to biomineralize and self-assembled three-dimensional photonic crystals with unique photonic and micro- and nano-fluidic properties. Three aims are being pursued: 1) investigation of evaporation-induced capillary forces in the arrayed micro- and nanopores of diatom biosilica; 2) development of an optofluidic biosensor with enhanced light-matter interactions through in-pore plasmonic nanoparticles and 3) enabling a lab-on-chip optofluidic sensing system for trace level of biomarker detection, specifically for histamine as allergy biomarkers, using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing. This research could lead to label-free sensing of many small biomolecules, which would positively impact pollution monitoring, hazardous material detection, and early disease diagnosis. The synergy of the research and education parts of this project benefits both graduate and undergraduate students at Oregon State University and Washington State University-Vancouver by enhancing their curricula with nanophotonic technology and microfluidics topics. The research project also has a component of broadening the participation of under-represented minorities, women and K-12 students through summer research programs.