Bjorn A. Thorsrud

Subcellular optochemical nanobiosensors: probes encapsulated by biologically localised embedding (PEBBLEs)

Abstract Described here are arguably the worlds smallest stand-alone devices/sensors, consisting of multicomponent nano-spheres with radii as small as 10 nm, occupying ≈1 ppb of a typical mammalian cell’s volume. The probe is prepared from up to seven ingredients and is optimised for selective and reversible analyte detection, as well as sensor stability and reproducibility. Such a sensor probe encapsulated by biologically localised embedding (PEBBLE), is delivered into a cell by a variety of minimally-invasive techniques, including a pico-injector, a gene gun, liposomal incorporation and natural ingestion. These remote nano-optodes (PEBBLEs) have been prepared for pH, calcium, magnesium, potassium and oxygen. The sensor PEBBLEs can be inserted into a cell individually, in clusters (single analyte), in sets (multi-analyte) or in ensembles (single analyte, multiple locations).

Near-field fiber optic chemical sensors and biological applications

Near-field optics has been applied in the nanofabrication of subwavelength optical fiber chemical and biological sensors and their operation in chemical and biological analysis. A thousandfold miniaturization of immobilized optical fiber sensors has been achieved by a near- field photo-nanofabrication technique, which is based on nanofabricated optical fiber tips and near-field photopolymerization. This technique has been further developed by multistep near- field nanofabrication and multidye probe fabrication. Multistep nanofabrication can further miniaturize optical fiber sensors, while multidye fabrication results in multifunctional optic and excitonic probes with extremely small size. These probes emit multiwavelength photons or produce excitons of different energy levels, and may have multiple chemical or biological sensitivities. The nondestructive submicrometer sensor has demonstrated its ability to carry out static and dynamic determinations of pH in intact rat conceptuses of varying gestational ages. The ability of the sensors to measure pH changes, in real time, in the intact rat conceptus, demonstrates their potential applications for dynamic analysis in multicellular organisms and single cells. The near-field interaction of photons with matter is discussed.

Tip/sample interactions, contrast, and near-field microscopy of biological and solid-state samples

Biological samples, molecular solids and solid state devices have been investigated by Near- Field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM), Near-Field Optical Spectroscopy, and Near- Field Chemical Sensing. We report here on our progress in applying the NSOM technology to various biological and physical systems. Results demonstrating both spatial and spectral resolution as well as image contrast unique to the near-field technique are presented.