785 nm laser for a Raman microscope

本提案为我们的拉曼显微镜系统寻求新的785 nm激光激发套件的资金。拉曼显微镜是pi研究小组的主力，它被维多利亚大学的其他几位研究人员用于材料表征。785 nm的激发是必不可少的，因为它允许在拉曼光谱中研究几种产生强背景荧光的材料。它还允许研究使用纳米技术方法制造的表面纳米结构的表面增强拉曼效应。所要求的激光激发套件是实现几个项目所必需的。例如，研究用用于癌症治疗的医用直线加速器的电离辐射照射前列腺癌细胞的辐射损伤的空间分布和程度。在这个项目中，我们将培养健康和癌前列腺细胞，并将这些细胞置于临床放射治疗中使用的典型剂量的电离辐射下。细胞化学成分的变化将通过使用785 nm激发的拉曼作图来跟踪。目的是将辐射引起的化学变化与剂量和癌症进展联系起来。这项工作将与温哥华岛不列颠哥伦比亚省癌症机构的研究人员合作进行。另一种类型的项目与我们的努力有关，即研究吸附在这些纳米结构上的分子的单分子事件。这项工作基本上有两个方面：一个是优化纳米结构的参数，以获得单分子检测所需的灵敏度。二是电化学环境下的单分子过程研究。

This proposal seeks funds for a new 785 nm laser excitation kit for our Raman microscope system. The Raman microscope is the workhorse for the PIs research groups, and it is used by several other researchers from UVic for materials characterization. The 785 nm excitation is essential because it allows the study of several materials that produce strong background fluorescence in the visible by Raman spectroscopy. It also allow the study of surface-enhanced Raman effects from surface nanostructures fabricated using nanotechnology methods. The requested laser excitation kit is essential for the realization of several projects. For instance, a study of the spatial distribution and extent of radiation damage in prostate cancer cells irradiated with ionizing radiation from a medical linear accelerator used in cancer therapy. In this project, we will be growing health and cancerous prostate cells and will submit these cells to typical doses of ionizing radiation used in clinical radiotherapy. The changes in the chemical composition of the cells will be followed by Raman mapping using 785 nm excitation. The objective is to correlate the chemical changes provoked by the radiation with the dose and cancer progression. This work will be carried out in collaboration with researchers from the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver Island. Another type of project is related to our efforts to study single molecular events from molecules adsorbed on those nanostructures. This efforts has basically two fronts: One of them is on the optimization of the parameters of the nanostructures to obtain the required sensitivity for single molecule detection. The second is the study of single molecule process in electrochemical environment.