CAREER: Biomolecular Nanophotonic Fabry-Perot Interferometry (BioNanoFPI)

研究方向：生物分子纳米光子法布里-珀罗干涉仪（BioNanoFPI）研究人员建议设计一种生物分子纳米光子法布里-珀罗干涉仪（BioNanoFPI）平台，该平台将允许可扩展的平行检测多种生物制剂，浓度在飞摩尔范围内，并且使用宽带白光光源代替激光易于操作。集成纳米结构的聚合物微机械FPI（µFPI）的开发将使BioNanoFPI平台能够创建二维、高复用、廉价的阵列，以进行化学和生物医学文库的大规模并行筛选。本CAREER项目的目标是通过理论建模和将液态生物聚合物与固态纳米光子和微机械设备相结合，在生物分子纳米光子学领域取得重大进展。这个职业发展计划有三个主要组成部分。本项目的科学部分主要集中在：(i)纳米柱等离子体衬底的信号增强机理的理论建模、理解和实验验证，以及纳米柱等离子体衬底与微机械法布里-珀罗干涉测量（µFPI）之间的相互作用；（ii）生物聚合物介电行为的理论建模和纳米结构法布里-珀罗腔中抗体和抗原相互作用的实验阐明。该项目的技术部分侧重于：(i)开发一种廉价的纳米制造工艺，用于构建等离子基板的纳米柱阵列；（ii）精确控制µFPI腔内的亚100 nm纳米结构/纳米柱阵列，用于高灵敏度的无标记生物测定，以及集成微和纳米流体网络的基于纳米结构填充聚合物的µFPI阵列的稳健批量制造方法。智力优势：本研究将有助于推进纳米柱等离子体衬底和BioNanoFPI微/纳米系统信号增强机制的基础知识。了解这种微/纳米系统的基本物理机制可能会引发生物纳米技术应用的其他重要想法和创新。该研究在病原、疾病检测、环境监测和安全等方面具有广泛的应用前景。此外，药物筛选和发现可以极大地受益于使用高通量多路无标记生物传感。更广泛的影响：PI提出了一个连贯和全面的教育、传播和外展组成部分，包括开发一门新的技术选修课程。纳米生物光子学导论，？将研究成果与现有的纳米和微课程相结合，指导研究生、本科生和代表性不足的学生，并向当地社区传播和推广。我们将特别设计网页，传播“？纳米生物光子学导论？拟议的教育和推广计划将通过美国国家科学基金会赞助的路易斯安那理工大学REU计划来教育本科生，并通过美国国家科学基金会赞助的NERO计划来教育K-12的女性和代表性不足的学生，高中和当地小农村和小城镇学校的未来学生。总体教育目标是通过训练学生进行具有良好理论的研究，并使他们能够为他们的高级职业获得动手实验技能，从而帮助下一代劳动力的发展。

CAREER: Biomolecular Nanophotonic Fabry-Perot Interferometry (BioNanoFPI)The proposes to design a Biomolecular Nanophotonic Fabry-Perot Interferometer (BioNanoFPI) platform that will allow scalable parallel detection of multiple bio-agents with concentrations in the femtomole range and ease-of-operation using a broadband white light source instead of a laser. The development of a polymer-based micromachined FPI (µFPI) with integrated nanostructures will enable a BioNanoFPI platform that allows for the creation of two-dimensional, highly-multiplexed, inexpensive arrays to conduct large-scale parallel screening of chemical and biomedical libraries.The objective of this CAREER project is to establish a significant advancement in biomolecular nanophotonics by theoretical modeling and interfacing liquid-state biopolymers to solid-state nanophotonic and micromachined devices. There are three main components of this career development plan. The scientific component of this project focuses on: (i) the theoretical modeling and understanding of and experimental confirmation of the signal enhancement mechanism of the nanopillar plasmonic substrates, and the interactions between the nanopillar-plasmonic substrates and micromachined Fabry-Perot Interferometry (µFPI); (ii) the theoretical modeling of the dielectric behavior of biopolymers and experimental elucidation of interactions of antibodies and antigens in the nanostructured Fabry-Perot cavity. The technological component of this project focuses on: (i) the development of an inexpensive nanofabrication process to construct a nanopillar array for plasmonic substrates; (ii) the precise control of sub100 nm nanostructure/nanopillar arrays in the µFPI cavity for highly sensitive label free bioassays, and a robust batch fabrication method of nanostructure-filled polymer-based µFPI arrays integrated with micro and nanofluidic networks. Intellectual merit: This proposed research will help advance fundamental knowledge of signal enhancement mechanisms of the nanopillar plasmonic substrates and the BioNanoFPI micro/nanosystem. Understanding the fundamental physical mechanism of this micro/nanosystem might trigger other important ideas and innovations for bionanotechnology applications. This research has a broad range of applications to pathogen, disease detection, environmental monitoring and security. In addition, drug screening and discovery can benefit tremendously by using high throughput multiplexed label-free biosensing.Broader impacts: The PI proposes a coherent and comprehensive education, dissemination and outreach component that includes developing a new technical elective course ?Introduction to Nano-biophotonics,? integrating research results with existing nano and micro courses, mentoring graduate, undergraduate and underrepresented students and dissemination and outreach to the local community. A webpage will be designed especially to disseminate the outcomes of ?Introduction to Nano-biophotonics.? The proposed educational and outreach program will be accomplished through the NSF-sponsored REU program at Louisiana Tech to educate undergraduate students and through the NSF-sponsored NERO program to educate women and under-represented students in K-12, high school and prospective students from local small rural and small town schools. The overall educational goal is to help next-generation workforce development by training students to carry out research with sound theory and allowing them to gain hands-on laboratory skills for their advanced careers.