Sensors 2008, 8(10), 6595-6604; doi:10.3390/s8106595
Article

Femtosecond Laser Microfabrication of an Integrated Device for Optical Release and Sensing of Bioactive Compounds

Diego Ghezzi 1,2 email, Rebeca Martinez Vazquez 3 email, Roberto Osellame 3,* email, Flavia Valtorta 4,5 email, Alessandra Pedrocchi 1 email, Giuseppe Della Valle 3 email, Roberta Ramponi 3 email, Giancarlo Ferrigno 1 email and Giulio Cerullo 3 email
1 NeuroEngineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory, Bioengineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy 2 Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, The Italian Institute of Technology, 16163 Genova, Italy 3 Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN) - CNR, Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy 4 San Raffaele Scientific Institute and Vita-Salute University, 20132 Milano, Italy 5 Unit of Molecular Neuroscience, The Italian Institute of Technology, 20132 Milano, Italy
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 23 September 2008; in revised form: 16 October 2008 / Accepted: 21 October 2008 / Published: 23 October 2008
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Sensors Technology in Italy)
PDF Full-text Download PDF Full-Text [1902 KB, uploaded 22 October 2008 12:14 CEST]
Abstract: Flash photolysis of caged compounds is one of the most powerful approaches to investigate the dynamic response of living cells. Monolithically integrated devices suitable for optical uncaging are in great demand since they greatly simplify the experiments and allow their automation. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of an integrated bio-photonic device for the optical release of caged compounds. Such a device is fabricated using femtosecond laser micromachining of a glass substrate. More in detail, femtosecond lasers are used both to cut the substrate in order to create a pit for cell growth and to inscribe optical waveguides for spatially selective uncaging of the compounds present in the culture medium. The operation of this monolithic bio-photonic device is tested using both free and caged fluorescent compounds to probe its capability of multipoint release and optical sensing. Application of this device to the study of neuronal network activity can be envisaged.
Keywords: Caged compound; waveguides; laser uncaging; optical release; femtosecond microfabrication; optical sensing

Article Statistics

Click here to load and display the download statistics.

Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Ghezzi, D.; Vazquez, R.M.; Osellame, R.; Valtorta, F.; Pedrocchi, A.; Valle, G.D.; Ramponi, R.; Ferrigno, G.; Cerullo, G. Femtosecond Laser Microfabrication of an Integrated Device for Optical Release and Sensing of Bioactive Compounds. Sensors 2008, 8, 6595-6604.

AMA Style

Ghezzi D, Vazquez RM, Osellame R, Valtorta F, Pedrocchi A, Valle GD, Ramponi R, Ferrigno G, Cerullo G. Femtosecond Laser Microfabrication of an Integrated Device for Optical Release and Sensing of Bioactive Compounds. Sensors. 2008; 8(10):6595-6604.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ghezzi, Diego; Vazquez, Rebeca M.; Osellame, Roberto; Valtorta, Flavia; Pedrocchi, Alessandra; Valle, Giuseppe D.; Ramponi, Roberta; Ferrigno, Giancarlo; Cerullo, Giulio. 2008. "Femtosecond Laser Microfabrication of an Integrated Device for Optical Release and Sensing of Bioactive Compounds." Sensors 8, no. 10: 6595-6604.

Sensors EISSN 1424-8220 Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland RSS E-Mail Table of Contents Alert