NER: Fluorescence Microscopy with 5 nm Resolution for Imaging the Membrane of a Living Cell

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract This proposal was received in response to NSE, NSF-0019. A Forster transfer microscope (FTM) will be developed to allow in vivo imaging of living cells with 5 nm resolution. The unprecedented resolution will be achieved through non-radiative Forster energy transfer between a scanning probe containing a silicon nanoparticle and a sample tagged with dye molecules. The FTM will exploit two recent developments in nanotechnology: (i) the discovery, at the University of Illinois, of a technique for fabricating 1 nm silicon nanoparticles with excellent size uniformity and fluorescence efficiency, and (ii) the development of a combined atomic force microscope / near-field scanning optical microscope (AF-NSOM) with 50 nm optical resolution and 1 nm height resolution. The FTM will be used to solve a long-standing question about how hormones and drugs interact with epithelial membranes: "Is ion transport modulated by movement of ion channels to and from the apical membrane (vesical trafficking), or by changes in their activation state?" As cultured epithelial membranes become a more widely used biomaterial, e.g. skin for burn victims, an understanding of cell dynamics on the 100 nm scale and below will be invaluable.