Addressable nanoantennas with cleared hotspots for single-molecule detection on a portable smartphone microscope

authored by: Kateryna Trofymchuk, Viktorija Glembockyte, Lennart Grabenhorst, Florian Steiner, Carolin Vietz, Cindy Close, Martina Pfeiffer, Lars Richter, Max L. Schütte, Florian Selbach, Renukka Yaadav, Jonas Zähringer, Qingshan Wei, Aydogan Ozcan, Birka Lalkens, Guillermo P. Acuna, Philip Tinnefeld
Abstract: The advent of highly sensitive photodetectors and the development of photostabilization strategies made detecting the fluorescence of single molecules a routine task in many labs around the world. However, to this day, this process requires cost-intensive optical instruments due to the truly nanoscopic signal of a single emitter. Simplifying single-molecule detection would enable many exciting applications, e.g., in point-of-care diagnostic settings, where costly equipment would be prohibitive. Here, we introduce addressable NanoAntennas with Cleared HOtSpots (NACHOS) that are scaffolded by DNA origami nanostructures and can be specifically tailored for the incorporation of bioassays. Single emitters placed in NACHOS emit up to 461-fold (average of 89 ± 7-fold) brighter enabling their detection with a customary smartphone camera and an 8-US-dollar objective lens. To prove the applicability of our system, we built a portable, battery-powered smartphone microscope and successfully carried out an exemplary single-molecule detection assay for DNA specific to antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia on the road.
External Organisation(s): Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)
Technische Universität Braunschweig
North Carolina State University
University of California (UCLA)
University of Fribourg
Type: Article
Journal: Nature Communications
Volume: 12
ISSN: 2041-1723
Publication date: 11.02.2021
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Chemistry(all), Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all), Physics and Astronomy(all)
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21238-9 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{f918254404d04d938bb1a5a3a65e9ac5,
title = "Addressable nanoantennas with cleared hotspots for single-molecule detection on a portable smartphone microscope",
abstract = "The advent of highly sensitive photodetectors and the development of photostabilization strategies made detecting the fluorescence of single molecules a routine task in many labs around the world. However, to this day, this process requires cost-intensive optical instruments due to the truly nanoscopic signal of a single emitter. Simplifying single-molecule detection would enable many exciting applications, e.g., in point-of-care diagnostic settings, where costly equipment would be prohibitive. Here, we introduce addressable NanoAntennas with Cleared HOtSpots (NACHOS) that are scaffolded by DNA origami nanostructures and can be specifically tailored for the incorporation of bioassays. Single emitters placed in NACHOS emit up to 461-fold (average of 89 ± 7-fold) brighter enabling their detection with a customary smartphone camera and an 8-US-dollar objective lens. To prove the applicability of our system, we built a portable, battery-powered smartphone microscope and successfully carried out an exemplary single-molecule detection assay for DNA specific to antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia on the road.",
author = "Kateryna Trofymchuk and Viktorija Glembockyte and Lennart Grabenhorst and Florian Steiner and Carolin Vietz and Cindy Close and Martina Pfeiffer and Lars Richter and Sch{\"u}tte, {Max L.} and Florian Selbach and Renukka Yaadav and Jonas Z{\"a}hringer and Qingshan Wei and Aydogan Ozcan and Birka Lalkens and Acuna, {Guillermo P.} and Philip Tinnefeld",
note = "Funding information: The authors thank Vivien Behrendt and Benedikt Hauer (Fraunhofer-Institut f{\"u}r Phy-sikalische Messtechnik IPM, Freiburg, Germany) for cooperation on the assay development and Prof. Tim Liedl/Prof. Joachim R{\"a}dler (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit{\"a}t, Department f{\"u}r Physik, Munich, Germany) for providing access to their facilities especially to the transmission electron microscope. The authors thank Tomas Gisicius for manufacturing the portable smartphone microscope. P.T. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the DFG (INST 86/1904-1 FUGG, excellence clusters NIM and e-conversion), BMBF (Grants POCEMON, 13N14336, and SIBOF, 03VP03891), and the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 737089 (Chipscope). G.P.A. gratefully acknowledges support by the Swiss National Science Foundation through the National Center of Competence in Research Bio-Inspired Materials and through grant number 200021_184687. V.G. and K.T. acknowledge the support by Humboldt Research Fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. A.O. acknowledges the support of NSF PATHS-UP and HHMI. BL acknowledges funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany{\textquoteright}s Excellence Strategy – EXC-2123 QuantumFrontiers – 390837967 and “Nieders{\"a}chsisches Vorab” through “Quantum-and Nano-Metrology (QUANOMET)” initiative within the project NL-1.",
year = "2021",
month = feb,
day = "11",
doi = "10.1038/s41467-021-21238-9",
language = "English",
volume = "12",
journal = "Nature Communications",
issn = "2041-1723",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "1",
}