Université de Fribourg

Directing single-molecule emission with dna origami-assembled optical antennas

Hübner, Kristina ; Pilo-Pais, Mauricio ; Selbach, Florian ; Liedl, Tim ; Tinnefeld, Philip ; Stefani, Fernando D. ; Acuna, Guillermo P.

In: Nano Letters, 2019, vol. 19, no. 9, p. 6629–6634

We demonstrate the capability of DNA self-assembled optical antennas to direct the emission of an individual fluorophore, which is free to rotate. DNA origami is used to fabricate optical antennas composed of two colloidal gold nanoparticles separated by a predefined gap and to place a single Cy5 fluorophore near the gap center. Although the fluorophore is able to rotate, its excitation and...

Université de Fribourg

Benchmarking smartphone fluorescence-based microscopy with DNA origami nanobeads: reducing the gap toward single-molecule sensitivity

Vietz, Carolin ; Schütte, Max L. ; Wei, Qingshan ; Richter, Lars ; Lalkens, Birka ; Aydogan Ozcan ; Tinnefeld, Philip ; Acuna, Guillermo P.

In: ACS Omega, 2019, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 637–642

Smartphone-based fluorescence microscopy has been rapidly developing over the last few years, enabling point-of-need detection of cells, bacteria, viruses, and biomarkers. These mobile microscopy devices are cost-effective, field-portable, and easy to use, and benefit from economies of scale. Recent developments in smartphone camera technology have improved their performance, getting closer...