10 research outputs found
Super-Resolution in Label-Free Photomodulated Reflectivity
We demonstrate a new, label-free,
far-field super-resolution method based on an ultrafast pumpāprobe
scheme oriented toward nanomaterial imaging. A focused pump laser
excites a diffraction-limited spatial temperature profile, and the
nonlinear changes in reflectance are probed. Enhanced spatial resolution
is demonstrated with nanofabricated silicon and vanadium dioxide nanostructures.
Using an air objective, resolution of 105 nm was achieved, well beyond
the diffraction limit for the pump and probe beams and offering a
novel kind of dedicated nanoscopy for materials
Super-Resolution in Label-Free Photomodulated Reflectivity
We demonstrate a new, label-free,
far-field super-resolution method based on an ultrafast pumpāprobe
scheme oriented toward nanomaterial imaging. A focused pump laser
excites a diffraction-limited spatial temperature profile, and the
nonlinear changes in reflectance are probed. Enhanced spatial resolution
is demonstrated with nanofabricated silicon and vanadium dioxide nanostructures.
Using an air objective, resolution of 105 nm was achieved, well beyond
the diffraction limit for the pump and probe beams and offering a
novel kind of dedicated nanoscopy for materials
Manipulating and Monitoring On-Surface Biological Reactions by Light-Triggered Local pH Alterations
Significant
research efforts have been dedicated to the integration
of biological species with electronic elements to yield smart bioelectronic
devices. The integration of DNA, proteins, and whole living cells
and tissues with electronic devices has been developed into numerous
intriguing applications. In particular, the quantitative detection
of biological species and monitoring of biological processes are both
critical to numerous areas of medical and life sciences. Nevertheless,
most current approaches merely focus on the āmonitoringā
of chemical processes taking place on the sensing surfaces, and little
efforts have been invested in the conception of sensitive devices
that can simultaneously ācontrolā and āmonitorā
chemical and biological reactions by the application of on-surface
reversible stimuli. Here, we demonstrate the light-controlled fine
modulation of surface pH by the use of photoactive molecularly modified
nanomaterials. Through the use of nanowire-based FET devices, we showed
the capability of modulating the on-surface pH, by intensity-controlled
light stimulus. This allowed us simultaneously and locally to control
and monitor pH-sensitive biological reactions on the nanodevices surfaces,
such as the local activation and inhibition of proteolytic enzymatic
processes, as well as dissociation of antigenāantibody binding
interactions. The demonstrated capability of locally modulating the
on-surface effective pH, by a light stimuli, may be further applied
in the local control of on-surface DNA hybridization/dehybridization
processes, activation or inhibition of living cells processes, local
switching of cellular function, local photoactivation of neuronal
networks with single cell resolution and so forth
Optically-Gated Self-Calibrating Nanosensors: Monitoring pH and Metabolic Activity of Living Cells
Quantitative
detection of biological and chemical species is critical to numerous
areas of medical and life sciences. In this context, information regarding
pH is of central importance in multiple areas, from chemical analysis,
through biomedical basic studies and medicine, to industry. Therefore,
a continuous interest exists in developing new, rapid, miniature,
biocompatible and highly sensitive pH sensors for minute fluid volumes.
Here, we present a new paradigm in the development of optoelectrical
sensing nanodevices with built-in self-calibrating capabilities. The
proposed electrical devices, modified with a photoactive switchable
molecular recognition layer, can be optically switched between two
chemically different states, each having different chemical binding
constants and as a consequence affecting the device surface potential
at different extents, thus allowing the ratiometric internal calibration
of the sensing event. At each point in time, the ratio of the electrical
signals measured in the ground and excited states, respectively, allows
for the absolute concentration measurement of the molecular species
under interest, without the need for electrical calibration of individual
devices. Furthermore, we applied these devices for the real-time monitoring
of cellular metabolic activity, extra- and intracellularly, as a potential
future tool for the performance of basic cell biology studies and
high-throughput personalized medicine-oriented research, involving
single cells and tissues. This new concept can be readily expanded
to the sensing of additional chemical and biological species by the
use of additional photoactive switchable receptors. Moreover, this
newly demonstrated coupling between surface-confined photoactive molecular
species and nanosensing devices could be utilized in the near future
in the development of devices of higher complexity for both the simultaneous
control and monitoring of chemical and biological processes with nanoscale
resolution control
Monolithic Integration of a Silicon Nanowire Field-Effect Transistors Array on a Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Chip for Biochemical Sensor Applications
We present a monolithic complementary
metal-oxide semiconductor
(CMOS)-based sensor system comprising an array of silicon nanowire
field-effect transistors (FETs) and the signal-conditioning circuitry
on the same chip. The silicon nanowires were fabricated by chemical
vapor deposition methods and then transferred to the CMOS chip, where
Ti/Pd/Ti contacts had been patterned via e-beam lithography. The on-chip
circuitry measures the current flowing through each nanowire FET upon
applying a constant source-drain voltage. The analog signal is digitized
on chip and then transmitted to a receiving unit. The system has been
successfully fabricated and tested by acquiring <i>I</i>ā<i>V</i> curves of the bare nanowire-based FETs.
Furthermore, the sensing capabilities of the complete system have
been demonstrated by recording current changes upon nanowire exposure
to solutions of different pHs, as well as by detecting different concentrations
of Troponin T biomarkers (cTnT) through antibody-functionalized nanowire
FETs
Biorecognition Layer Engineering: Overcoming Screening Limitations of Nanowire-Based FET Devices
Detection of biological species is of great importance
to numerous
areas of medical and life sciences from the diagnosis of diseases
to the discovery of new drugs. Essential to the detection mechanism
is the transduction of a signal associated with the specific recognition
of biomolecules of interest. Nanowire-based electrical devices have
been demonstrated as a powerful sensing platform for the highly sensitive
detection of a wide-range of biological and chemical species. Yet,
detecting biomolecules in complex biosamples of high ionic strength
(>100 mM) is severely hampered by ionic screening effects. As a
consequence,
most of existing nanowire sensors operate under low ionic strength
conditions, requiring ex situ biosample manipulation steps, that is,
desalting processes. Here, we demonstrate an effective approach for
the direct detection of biomolecules in untreated serum, based on
the fragmentation of antibody-capturing units. Size-reduced antibody
fragments permit the biorecognition event to occur in closer proximity
to the nanowire surface, falling within the charge-sensitive Debye
screening length. Furthermore, we explored the effect of antibody
surface coverage on the resulting detection sensitivity limit under
the high ionic strength conditions tested and found that lower antibody
surface densities, in contrary to high antibody surface coverage,
leads to devices of greater sensitivities. Thus, the direct and sensitive
detection of proteins in untreated serum and blood samples was effectively
performed down to the sub-pM concentration range without the requirement
of biosamples manipulation
Si Nanowires Forest-Based On-Chip Biomolecular Filtering, Separation and Preconcentration Devices: Nanowires Do it All
The development of efficient biomolecular separation
and purification
techniques is of critical importance in modern genomics, proteomics,
and biosensing areas, primarily due to the fact that most biosamples
are mixtures of high diversity and complexity. Most of existent techniques
lack the capability to rapidly and selectively separate and concentrate
specific target proteins from a complex biosample, and are difficult
to integrate with lab-on-a-chip sensing devices. Here, we demonstrate
the development of an on-chip all-SiNW filtering, selective separation,
desalting, and preconcentration platform for the direct analysis of
whole blood and other complex biosamples. The separation of required
protein analytes from raw biosamples is first performed using a antibody-modified
roughness-controlled SiNWs (silicon nanowires) forest of ultralarge
binding surface area, followed by the release of target proteins in
a controlled liquid media, and their subsequent detection by supersensitive
SiNW-based FETs arrays fabricated on the same chip platform. Importantly,
this is the first demonstration of an <i>all-NWs device</i> for the whole direct analysis of blood samples on a single chip,
able to selectively collect and separate specific low abundant proteins,
while easily removing unwanted blood components (proteins, cells)
and achieving desalting effects, without the requirement of time-consuming
centrifugation steps, the use of desalting or affinity columns. Futhermore,
we have demonstrated the use of our nanowire forest-based separation
device, integrated in a single platform with downstream SiNW-based
sensors arrays, for the real-time ultrasensitive detection of protein
biomarkers directly from blood samples. The whole ultrasensitive protein
label-free analysis process can be practically performed in less than
10 min
Excited-State Proton Transfer and Proton Diffusion near Hydrophilic Surfaces
Time-resolved emission techniques
were employed to study the reversible proton photoprotolytic properties
of surface-attached 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonate (HPTS) molecules
to hydrophilic alumina and silica surfaces. We found that the excited-state
proton transfer rate of the surface-linked HPTS molecules, in H<sub>2</sub>O and D<sub>2</sub>O, is nearly the same as of HPTS in the
bulk, while the corresponding recombination rate is significantly
greater. Using the diffusion-assisted proton geminate-recombination
model, we found that the best fit of the time-resolved fluorescence
(TRF) signal is obtained by invoking a two-dimensional diffusion space
for the proton to recombine with the conjugated basic form, RO<sup>ā</sup>*, of the surface-linked HPTS. However, we obtain an
excellent fit by a three-dimensional diffusion space for diffusional
HPTS in bulk water. These results indicate that the photoejected solvated
protons are confined to the surface for long periods of time. We suggest
two plausible mechanisms responsible for two-dimensional proton diffusion
next to hydrophilic surfaces
Highly Ordered Large-Scale Neuronal Networks of Individual Cells ā Toward Single Cell to 3D Nanowire Intracellular Interfaces
The use of artificial, prepatterned neuronal networks
in vitro
is a promising approach for studying the development and dynamics
of small neural systems in order to understand the basic functionality
of neurons and later on of the brain. The present work presents a
high fidelity and robust procedure for controlling neuronal growth
on substrates such as silicon wafers and glass, enabling us to obtain
mature and durable neural networks of individual cells at designed
geometries. It offers several advantages compared to other related
techniques that have been reported in recent years mainly because
of its high yield and reproducibility. The procedure is based on surface
chemistry that allows the formation of functional, tailormade neural
architectures with a micrometer high-resolution partition, that has
the ability to promote or repel cells attachment. The main achievements
of this work are deemed to be the creation of a large scale neuronal
network at low density down to individual cells, that develop intact
typical neurites and synapses without any glia-supportive cells straight
from the plating stage and with a relatively long term survival rate,
up to 4 weeks. An important application of this method is its use
on 3D nanopillars and 3D nanowire-device arrays, enabling not only
the cell bodies, but also their neurites to be positioned directly
on electrical devices and grow with registration to the recording
elements underneath
Non-covalent Monolayer-Piercing Anchoring of Lipophilic Nucleic Acids: Preparation, Characterization, and Sensing Applications
Functional interfaces of biomolecules and inorganic substrates like semiconductor materials are of utmost importance for the development of highly sensitive biosensors and microarray technology. However, there is still a lot of room for improving the techniques for immobilization of biomolecules, in particular nucleic acids and proteins. Conventional anchoring strategies rely on attaching biomacromolecules via complementary functional groups, appropriate bifunctional linker molecules, or non-covalent immobilization via electrostatic interactions. In this work, we demonstrate a facile, new, and general method for the reversible non-covalent attachment of amphiphilic DNA probes containing hydrophobic units attached to the nucleobases (lipidāDNA) onto SAM-modified gold electrodes, silicon semiconductor surfaces, and glass substrates. We show the anchoring of well-defined amounts of lipidāDNA onto the surface by insertion of their lipid tails into the hydrophobic monolayer structure. The surface coverage of DNA molecules can be conveniently controlled by modulating the initial concentration and incubation time. Further control over the DNA layer is afforded by the additional external stimulus of temperature. Heating the DNA-modified surfaces at temperatures >80 Ā°C leads to the release of the lipidāDNA structures from the surface without harming the integrity of the hydrophobic SAMs. These supramolecular DNA layers can be further tuned by anchoring onto a mixed SAM containing hydrophobic molecules of different lengths, rather than a homogeneous SAM. Immobilization of lipidāDNA on such SAMs has revealed that the surface density of DNA probes is highly dependent on the composition of the surface layer and the structure of the lipidāDNA. The formation of the lipidāDNA sensing layers was monitored and characterized by numerous techniques including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, quartz crystal microbalance, ellipsometry, contact angle measurements, atomic force microscopy, and confocal fluorescence imaging. Finally, this new DNA modification strategy was applied for the sensing of target DNAs using silicon-nanowire field-effect transistor device arrays, showing a high degree of specificity toward the complementary DNA target, as well as single-base mismatch selectivity