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The potential of optofluidic biolasers

Nature Methods volume 11, pages 141–147 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Optofluidic biolasers are emerging as a highly sensitive way to measure changes in biological molecules. Biolasers, which incorporate biological material into the gain medium and contain an optical cavity in a fluidic environment, can use the amplification that occurs during laser generation to quantify tiny changes in biological processes in the gain medium. We describe the principle of the optofluidic biolaser, review recent progress and provide our outlooks on potential applications and directions for developing this technology.

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Figure 1: Comparison of fluorescence-based detection and laser-based detection.
Figure 2: Optofluidic lasers.
Figure 3: Biochemical sensing applications of optofluidic lasers.
Figure 4: Cell-based optofluidic lasers with potential applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support from the US National Science Foundation (grants CBET-1037097 and ECCS-1045621 and CBET-1158638 to X.F. and ECCS-1101947 and CBET-1264356 to S.-H.Y.) and US National Institutes of Health (P41EB015903 to S.-H.Y.). We thank D. Psaltis, Z. Li and M. Gather for providing original figures (Figs. 2b and 4b) and I. White for proofreading the manuscript.

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  1. Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Xudong Fan

  2. Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Seok-Hyun Yun

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  1. Xudong Fan
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Correspondence to Xudong Fan or Seok-Hyun Yun.

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Fan, X., Yun, SH. The potential of optofluidic biolasers. Nat Methods 11, 141–147 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2805

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