Professor Carsten Sönnichsen, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Department of Chemistry, Germany

Plasmons as molecular biosensors

Due to their photostability, small size, and large light scattering cross-section, gold nanorods find application as sensors for the attachment of macro- and bio-molecules (Nano-SPR). These nanosensors can be adjusted to address specific biological problems by varying the particles’ dimensions,geometry and their surface functionalization. An advantage over fluorescence based methods is the unlimited photo-stability..[1,2]

We show selected applications of NanoSPR with an emphasis to demonstrate how successful applications rely on the selecting a case-appropriate signal read-out method, optimizing the bio-chemical nature of the nanosensor as well as balancing the respective advantages and disadvantages of each method.[3]

From the comparison of protein binding affinities[4] to the visualization of collective oscillations of protein systems[5],  as well as the detection of single-protein dynamics[6], NanoSPR can provide answers to questions of both qualitative and quantitative nature.

[1] Anker et al. (2008). Nat. Mater, 7, 442−453.
[2] Roy et al. (2008) Nat. Methods, 5, 507−516.
[3] Celiksoy et al. (2021). Nano letters, 21, 2053.
[4] Ahijado-Guzmán et al. (2014). C. Nano letters, 14 (10), 5528–5532.
[5] Celiksoy et al. (2020). J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 11 (12), 4554–4558.
[6] Ye et al. (2018). C. Nano letters, 18 (10), 6633–6637.