Development of Local Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor Using Gold Nanoparticles

The healthcare industry is moving towards personalized medicine and patients seek greater role in their care. In this paper we describe a proof of concept of versatile optical sensor that potentially can be used for in vivo detection of biological events. The developed sensor comprises of a silver thin film glass slide and gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and allows detection of chemical changes using surface plasmon resonance (SPR), local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and fluorescence lifetime detection modalities. A change in spectrum was observed after removal of GNPs by 2-mercaptoethanol. Moreover, GNP conjugated to fluorescein were tested using fluorescence lifetime microscopy (FLIM) to enhance sensing capabilities and provide additional dimension for detection. The sensor has the potential to provide real-time analyses of different biological molecules, such as antibody and antigen, receptor and ligand, and complementary DNA fragments.