Single File Flow of Biomimetic Beads for Continuous SERS Recording in a Microfluidic Device

Abstract

A major challenge in cancer treatment is the quantification of biomarkers associated with a specific cancer type. Important biomarkers are the circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detached from the main cancer and circulating in the blood. CTCs are very rare and their identification is still an issue. Although CTCs quantification can be estimated by using fluorescent markers, all the fluorescence techniques are strongly limited by the number of emissions (therefore markers) that can be discriminated with one exciting line, by their bleaching characteristics, and by the intrinsic autofluorescence of biological samples. An emerging technique that can overcome these limitations is Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS). Signals of vibrational origin with intensity similar to those of fluorescence, but narrower bandwidths, can be easily discriminated even by exciting with a single laser line. We recently showed the benefit of this method with cells fixed on a surface. However, this approach is too demanding to be applied in clinical routine. To effectively increase the throughput of the SERS analysis, microfluidics represents a promising tool. We report two different hydrodynamic strategies, based on device geometry and liquids viscosity, to successfully combine a microfluidic design with SERS.

Nanoparticles Engineering by Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquids: Concepts and Applications

“…NPs are synthesized without stabilizing molecules, in order to avoid any associated biocompatibility problem. Furthermore, the naked surface of these NPs can be easily functionalized, for example with molecules for active cell targeting [ 171 , 172 , 173 ], for sensing and diagnosis [ 174 , 175 , 176 ], for drug monitoring [ 177 ] and also for therapies, as in the case of photothermal therapy [ 171 , 175 ]. Using multiple functionalizations, theranostic nanosystems, namely nanosystems useful for both therapy and diagnosis, can also be obtained.…”

Microfluidics and Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy: A Perfect Match for New Analytical Tools

“…Other research areas that have been favored for MF-SERS use are biology and medicine for the detection of biomolecules, biomarkers and pathogens. Adenine, DNA, RNA, and different proteins are some biologic probes that are analyzed using MF-SERS combination due to facilitate the handling of samples using microfluidics parameters [63]- [65]. Similarly, diverse pathogens can also be detected with this approach, as reported for such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and different mycotoxins in real samples using MF-SERS [66], [67].…”

Synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles by laser ablation of strontium ferrite under water and their characterization by optically detected magnetophoresis supported by BEM calculations

“…Magnetic nanoparticles (MagNPs) attract increasing interest in several technological applications like high density data storage, 1 ferrofluids, 2,3 nanolubricants, 4 and waste water treatment, 5 and in biomedical applications like remote cell manipulation [6][7][8] or drug delivery, 9,10 multimodal SERS/MRI contrast agents [11][12][13] and magnetic hyperthermia. 14,15 Understanding the effect of an applied magnetic field on MagNPs provides fundamental knowledge for improving their applications.…”