Paiva Joana S, Ribeiro Rita S R, Cunha João P S, Rosa Carla C, Jorge Pedro A S
INESC TEC-INESC Technology and Science, 4200 Porto, Portugal.
Physics and Astronomy Department, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
Sensors (Basel). 2018 Feb 27;18(3):710. doi: 10.3390/s18030710.
Recent trends on microbiology point out the urge to develop optical micro-tools with multifunctionalities such as simultaneous manipulation and sensing. Considering that miniaturization has been recognized as one of the most important paradigms of emerging sensing biotechnologies, optical fiber tools, including Optical Fiber Tweezers (OFTs), are suitable candidates for developing multifunctional small sensors for Medicine and Biology. OFTs are flexible and versatile optotools based on fibers with one extremity patterned to form a micro-lens. These are able to focus laser beams and exert forces onto microparticles strong enough (piconewtons) to trap and manipulate them. In this paper, through an exploratory analysis of a 45 features set, including time and frequency-domain parameters of the back-scattered signal of particles trapped by a polymeric lens, we created a novel single feature able to differentiate synthetic particles (PMMA and Polystyrene) from living yeasts cells. This single statistical feature can be useful for the development of label-free hybrid optical fiber sensors with applications in infectious diseases detection or cells sorting. It can also contribute, by revealing the most significant information that can be extracted from the scattered signal, to the development of a simpler method for particles characterization (in terms of composition, heterogeneity degree) than existent technologies.
微生物学的最新趋势表明，迫切需要开发具有多种功能的光学微工具，如同时进行操纵和传感。鉴于小型化已被视为新兴传感生物技术最重要的范例之一，包括光纤镊子（OFTs）在内的光纤工具是开发用于医学和生物学的多功能小型传感器的合适候选者。光纤镊子是基于光纤的灵活通用的光工具，其一端经过图案化处理以形成微透镜。这些工具能够聚焦激光束，并对微粒施加足够强的力（皮牛顿）以捕获和操纵它们。在本文中，通过对一个包含45个特征集的探索性分析，包括聚合物透镜捕获的粒子背向散射信号的时域和频域参数，我们创建了一种能够区分合成粒子（聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯和聚苯乙烯）与活酵母细胞的新型单一特征。这种单一统计特征可用于开发无标记混合光纤传感器，应用于传染病检测或细胞分选。它还可以通过揭示可从散射信号中提取的最重要信息，为开发一种比现有技术更简单的粒子表征方法（在组成、异质性程度方面）做出贡献。
