Session Overview |
Tuesday, July 19 |
13:15 |
Plasmonic biosensors and their biomedical applications
* Jií Homola, Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic Optical biosensors hold promise for applications in numerous important areas, such as molecular biology, medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, food safety and security. Surface plasmons are special modes of electromagnetic field that can be excited at the metal-dielectric interface and allow for high confinement of the electromagnetic field at the metal surface. Affinity biosensors based on optically excited surface plasmons (often referred to as plasmonic biosensors) represent the most advanced optical label-free biosensor technology. In the past two decades, plasmonic affinity biosensors have become the main tool for the real-time investigation of biomolecular interactions. Plasmonic biosensors have also been researched for the detection of chemical and biological species. However, their penetration in clinical applications has remained rather limited [1, 2]. In this presentation, we introduce plasmonic affinity biosensors, discuss the main challenges in the development of plasmonic biosensors for medical diagnostics and present selected advances in plasmonic biosensor research that aim to address some of these challenges. These include advances in plasmonic nanostructures and instrumentation, microfluidic systems, functional materials, and detection assays. Examples of medical applications of advanced plasmonic biosensors are also presented. The first example is related to the development of plasmonic biosensors for the diagnosis of Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS - a group of hematological malignancies with a risk of progression into acute myeloid leukemia). In particular, a new approach to the detection of MDS-related microribonucleic acids (miRNAs) is described and shown to be able to detect miRNAs in blood plasma at physiologically relevant (sub-fM) concentrations [3]. The second example is concerned with the biosensor-based study of the role of pregnancy associated plasma protein A2 (PAPP-A2) in prognosis of patients with renal system disorder. References: [1] H. Altug, S.H. Oh, S.A. Maier, J. Homola, Nature Nanotechnology, 17, 5–16 (2022). [2] M. Bocková, J. Slabý, T. Špringer, J. Homola, Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry, 12, 151–176 (2019). [3] T. Špringer, Z. Krejík, J. Homola, Biosensors and Bioelectronics 194, 113613 (2021). |