Bioimaging with photonic crystal enhanced microscopy

The work presented in this dissertation addresses the optimization and application of a newly developed imaging modality, named photonic crystal enhanced microscopy (PCEM) for label-free detection of the surface attached biological samples. Photonic crystal, supporting guided-mode resonances and providing local optical modes, can enhance the light-matter interaction on its surface and thus used for label-free detection and biosensing. One dimensional photonic crystal surfaces are designed and utilized as a biosensor, and further integrated with an ordinary bright-field microscope. To demonstrate the validity of the photonic crystal biosensor, a three-dimensional modeling is developed and evaluated with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm to predict and visualize the electromagnetic field redistribution upon the device surface. Applications of the photonic crystal enhanced microscopy are carried out for live cell imaging, nanoparticle detection and protein-protein binding detection. First, labelfree detection for live cell with PCEM imaging system is performed. Three different cellular phenomena are involved in this study, including cell adhesion, cell migration and stem cell differentiation. A novel imaging analysis software is developed to dynamically track the cell plasma membrane evolution. This traction software reveals mass redistribution with high resolution during cell migration which is previously difficult to evaluate quantitatively. Furthermore, both dielectric and metallic nanoparticles are examined and proved to be detectable as label-free detection using PCEM imaging system. Another novel imaging analysis software is developed to automatically count the number of nanoparticles attached on the sensor surface within the imaging field of view. Finally, a newly developed detection modality for protein-protein binding is demonstrated through PCEM imaging system using nanoparticle as tags. This new detection modality can avoid the photobleach problem and may also hold the potential to detect ultra-low concentrations of protein in the future. In summary, photonic crystal biosensor and its associated imaging system with microscopy developed in this work show great promise to the label-free biosensing and bioimaging. Future work will extend the application of PCEM to broader research and application fields served as the next generation sensing modalities.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Bioengineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Zhuo, Yue

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cunningham, Brian T.
• King, William P.
• Harley, Brendan A.
• Myong, Su-A

• Protein-protein Binding Detection
• Nanoparticle Detection
• Live-cell imaging
• Label-free Detection
• Optical Biosensor
• Photonic Crystal

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2015 Yue Zhuo

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/78699

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/78699