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

这项研究项目的目标是探索使用自然出现的硅藻对生物物质进行传感，硅藻是在自然界中发现的一组单细胞藻类，已被证明具有适合生物传感应用的独特性质。这项研究可能会带来检测多种生物分子的新方法，这反过来将对污染监测、有害物质检测和疾病早期诊断产生积极影响。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都受益。正在这些机构的课程中增加有关纳米光子技术和微流体的方案专题，并正在努力通过暑期研究方案，努力扩大这些机构中代表性不足的少数群体、妇女和K-12学生的参与。蒸发诱导的微纳结构中的毛细管流可以在不需要外部泵的情况下维持液体流动，这是生物传感的一个理想特征。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的蒸发驱动、光流控生物传感器。硅藻是一类单细胞光合藻，它们通过生物化学途径将三维光子晶体进行生物矿化和自组装，具有独特的光子和微纳流体性质。目前正在追求三个目标：1)研究硅藻生物二氧化硅阵列微孔和纳米孔中蒸发诱导的毛细管力；2)开发一种光流控生物传感器，通过孔内等离子体纳米粒子增强光与物质的相互作用；以及3)利用表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)传感技术，实现芯片上的光流控传感系统，用于痕量水平的生物标志物检测，特别是组胺作为过敏生物标志物的检测。这项研究可能导致许多小生物分子的无标记传感，这将对污染监测、有害物质检测和疾病早期诊断产生积极影响。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，因为他们在课程中增加了纳米光子技术和微流体学主题。该研究项目还包括通过暑期研究项目扩大代表不足的少数族裔、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.