A Nanoscale Evanescent Wave Magnetic Resonance Probe

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究旨在开发一种用于分子生物医学研究的新型高分辨率、高灵敏度的倏逝波磁共振探针。传统的核磁共振技术可以通过在均匀磁场中精确测量核自旋共振的化学位移来确定均质分子大系综的分子结构，而成像技术MRI由于成像所需的高场梯度而失去了这一关键能力。在此，我们建议开发具有最佳灵敏度和分辨率的新型磁共振检测技术。通过两个阶段的研发，我们的最终目标是实现空间分辨率为10纳米的单个生物分子的磁共振检测。提出的技术是一种倏逝波磁共振探头（EWMRP），它将成熟的磁共振技术的许多方面与一种新型的倏逝波（微波或射频）发射/探测装置和一种新型的原子分辨率力显微镜元件集成在一起。空间分辨自旋共振是通过探针尖端产生的倏逝波而不是磁场梯度来实现的。因此，这项技术提供了探测不同位置的原子核在局部精确化学位移的能力。所提出的EWMR探针将能够同时提供高空间分辨率，高对比度地形和高灵敏度自旋磁共振波谱，这有望对单个分子（例如，蛋白质）及其亚结构，在表面或细胞内的生物化学过程的原位研究产生深远的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposed research strives to develop a novel high-resolution and high-sensitivity evanescent wave magnetic resonance probe for molecular biomedical research. Conventional NMR technique can determine molecular structure of large ensemble of homogenous molecules through precise measurement of chemical shift of nuclear spin resonance in a uniform magnetic field, while imaging technique, MRI, lost this critical capability due to its high field gradient needed for imaging. We propose here to develop novel magnetic resonance detection technology with optimized sensitivity and resolution. Through two-phase R&D, our ultimate goal is to demonstrate magnetic resonance detection of single biological molecules with spatial resolution of 10 nm. The proposed technology, an Evanescence-Wave Magnetic Resonance Probe (EWMRP), integrates many aspects of well-established magnetic resonance technology with a novel evanescence-wave (microwave or RF) emission/detection device and a novel atomic-resolution force microscopy element. The spatially resolved spin resonance is realized through evanescent wave generated at the probe tip rather than magnetic field gradient. Therefore, this technology offers the capability of probing precise chemical shifts of differently situated nuclei locally. The proposed EWMR probe will be able to provide simultaneously high spatial resolution, high contrast topography and high sensitivity spin magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which is expected to have profound implications for in situ study of biochemical processes of a single molecule (e.g., a protein) and its sub-structures, on a surface or inside a cell.