Optical Metrology for Bio-nanotechnology
Metrology of Nanoscale Biophotonic Materials
Recently, many novel molecular agents and probes have been developed for their
use as sensors and proximal probes of local nanoenvironment. The utility of
these nanoscale materials including fluorescent nanocrystals (quantum dots or
Qdots), nanoshells, and nanotubes has been extended towards many bioimaging
applications to achieve quantitative imaging contrast. The current challenge
for the application of these novel probes for quantitative imaging application
is to characterize and model the unique optical properties of these nanoscale
materials and quantify how biochemical environments change these properties
towards their use as bioimaging agents. We are developing and utilizing new
measurement platforms and standards to characterize and model the unique
optical properties of these nanoscale materials in a controlled environment for
their applications as quantitative biosensors and detectors. A variety of
self-asssembly techniques are also being developed to engineer nanocomplexes of
biomolecules and nanomaterials for their potential applications in biological
studies including cellular diagnostics, repair, and modification, cancer
detection, in vivo imaging, biological warfare agent detection, and drug
research and development.
Biological Scanning Probe Microscopy
Our objective is to extend the measurements and standards infrastructure for
the nanoscale optical and chemical characterization of biological and
biomimetic materials. For optical characterization, we are developing
near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) for quantitative evaluation of
surfaces, with a particular emphasis on understanding biocompatible organic
films and biomimetic membranes. Our NSOM is being extended to include linear
and non-linear spectroscopy to achieve high-resolution chemical imaging of
functional groups on surfaces. For chemical imaging, we are also developing
chemical force microscopy (CFM) with the ability to map chemical heterogeneity
of surfaces with nanoscale resolution. For CFM, in particular, we are building
a proficiency in the use of functionalized Atomic Force Microscopy (f-AFM)
probes, which present an attractive means of performing nanometer scale
chemical imaging on various samples such as polymers, biomimetic materials, and
biological membranes.
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