Anastasia Loman

Precise measurement of diffusion by multi-color dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

Dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy is a method for precisely measuring the diffusion coefficient of fluorescing molecules close to the infinite dilution limit in a reference-free and absolute manner. We apply the method to determine the diffusion coefficients of three fluorescent dyes across the visible spectrum. These values can be used as absolute reference standards for fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. In particular, it is found that the diffusion coefficient of the widely used reference dye Rhodamine 6G is by 37% larger than the value used in most publications on fluorescence correlation spectroscopy over the last three decades.

The optics and performance of dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is an important spectroscopic technique which can be used for measuring the diffusion and thus size of fluorescing molecules at pico- to nanomolar concentrations. Recently, we introduced an extension of conventional FCS, which is called dual-focus FCS (2fFCS) and allows absolute diffusion measurements with high precision and repeatability. It was shown experimentally that the method is robust against most optical and sample artefacts which are troubling conventional FCS measurements, and is furthermore able to yield absolute values of diffusion coefficients without referencing against known standards. However, a thorough theoretical treatment of the performance of 2fFCS is still missing. The present paper aims at filling this gap. Here, we have systematically studied the performance of 2fFCS with respect to the most important optical and photophysical factors such as cover slide thick-ness, refractive index of the sample, laser beam geometry, and optical satu-ration. We show that 2fFCS has indeed a superior performance when com-pared with conventional FCS, being mostly insensitive to most potential ab-errations when working under optimized conditions.

Dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy: a robust tool for studying molecular crowding

Conventional single-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is often used for studying molecular diffusion in crowded environments. However, these measurements usually deal with concentrations of the crowding agent far beyond the overlap-concentration, resulting in a crowding effect which slows down the diffusion coefficient by several orders of magnitude. In the present paper, we would like to study the transition range from free diffusion to crowding. Therefore, high accuracy of the determination of the diffusion coefficient is needed. In the majority of cases, the local refractive index in a sample is different from the refractive index of the immersion medium of the used objective. To achieve a high accuracy during experiments it is necessary to account for the refractive index mismatch in single-focus FCS calculations. In this work, we study theoretically and experimentally the influence of the refractive index mismatch on performance of single-focus FCS as well as the recently developed dual-focus FCS (2fFCS). By looking at the transition from free tracer diffusion to crowding it is shown that, in contrast to conventional FCS, 2fFCS allows measuring absolute values of the diffusion coefficient and its change in the range of half an order of magnitude. Even under conditions of strong refractive index mismatch between sample and immersion medium, without the need of additional calibration. This is demonstrated on a system of fluorescently labeled 70 kDa dextrane in an unlabeled 70 kDa dextrane matrix. Therefore, 2fFCS is a perfect tool for investigating molecular dynamics in crowded environments.

Calibrating differential interference contrast microscopy with dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.

We present a novel calibration technique for determining the shear distance of a Nomarski Differential Interference Contrast prism, which is used in Differential Interference Contrast microscopy as well as for the recently developed dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. In both applications, an exact knowledge of the shear distance induced by the Nomarski prism is important for a quantitative data evaluation. In Differential Interference Contrast microscopy, the shear distance determines the spatial resolution of imaging, in dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, it represents the extrinsic length scale for determining diffusion coefficients. The presented calibration technique is itself based on a combination of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. The method is easy to implement and allows for determining the shear distance with nanometer accuracy.

Dual-Focus Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy of Colloidal Solutions : Influence of Particle Size

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is a powerful technique for measuring diffusion coefficients of small fluorescent molecules at pico- to nanomolar concentrations. Recently, a modified version of FCS, dual-focus FCS (2fFCS), was introduced that significantly improves the reliability and accuracy of FCS measurements and allows for obtaining absolute values of diffusion coefficients without the need of referencing again a known standard. It was shown that 2fFCS gives excellent results for measuring the diffusion of small molecules. However, when measuring colloids or macromolecules, the size of these objects can no longer be neglected with respect to the excitation laser focus. Here, we analyze how 2fFCS data evaluation has to be modified for correctly taking into a count these finite size effects. We exemplify the new method of measuring the absolute size of polymeric particles with simple and complex fluorophore distributions.

Latest applications for 2-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) has been invented more than 30 years ago and experienced a renaissance after stable and affordable laser sources and low-noise single-photon detectors have become available. Its ability to measure diffusion coefficients at nanomolar concentrations of analyte made it a widely used tool in biophysics. However, in recent years it has been shown by many authors that aberrational (e.g. astigmatism) and photophysical effects (e.g. optical saturation) may influence the result of an FCS experiment dramatically, so that a precise and reliable estimation of the diffusion coefficient is no longer possible. Here, we report on the development, implementation, and application of a new and robust modification of FCS that we termed two-focus FCS (2fFCS) and which fulfils two requirements: (i) It introduces an external ruler into the measurement by generating two overlapping laser foci of precisely known and fixed distance. (ii) These two foci and corresponding detection regions are generated in such a way that the corresponding molecule detection functions (MDFs) are sufficiently well described by a simple two-parameter model yielding accurate diffusion coefficients when applied to 2fFCS data analysis. Both these properties enable us to measure absolute values of the diffusion coefficient with an accuracy of a few percent. Moreover, it turns out that the new technique is robust against refractive index mismatch, coverslide thickness deviations, and optical saturation effects, which so often trouble conventional FCS measurements. Additionally, we will show data that indicates that with 2fFCS it is even possible to monitor conformational changes of a calcium bindig protein affecting the hydrodynamic radius by as little as two Angstrom.