Novel plasmonic nanoparticles for applications in quantitative biosensing and bioimaging

The main aim of this research project is to design, fabricate and characterise novel plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs), using a combination of chemical colloidal synthesis, linear and nonlinear optics methods and computational tools, and to demonstrate their application in quantitative biosensing and novel bioimaging. This project merges the commercial need of the industrial partner BBI solutions (http://www.bbisolutions.com/) to expand and improve their in-vitro diagnostic assays with the strong research activity of the academic supervisors in developing new tools and technologies for quantitative biosensing and bioimaging.

Metallic NPs have attracted increasing attention as optical labels in biology since they efficiently absorb and scatter light at specific wavelengths and do not blink or photobleach. Particularly gold NPs are chemically stable and biocompatible and are currently applied in a wide range of bioimaging techniques and biosensing assays [1]. Building from the fundamental understanding of the physical origin of a metallic NP optical resonance (known as localised surface plasmon resonance - LSPR) which depends on the NP shape, size and composition, there is a growing interest in designing and developing novel NPs with non-spherical shapes and alternative compositions to control their LSPR wavelength and the absorption/scattering strength. This would enable to expand the existing range of colorimetric biosensing assays, to achieve a more quantitative readout by understanding and controlling the strength of light-matter interaction, and to develop novel biosensors beyond state-of-the art. Developing novel metallic NPs would also enable to expand bioimaging applications to other wavelengths (e.g. the near infrared suitable for tissue penetration and in-vivo biomedical imaging), and to achieve even higher detection sensitivity, for applications ranging from single particle tracking inside living cells for drug delivery, to correlative light-electron microscopy of the same metallic label for super-resolution imaging.

In this project, the student will spend 12 months at BBI solutions in Cardiff (3 months p.a.) and will be exposed to the best in metallic NP manufacturing and bioconjugation technologies with over 20 years’ experience of BBI in consistently and reliably delivering high quality NP products. Within Cardiff University the student will benefit from a challenging research training experience at the physics-life science interface where novel NPs are characterised and applied for quantitative biosensing and bioimaging with photonics techniques beyond state-of-the-art [2].