IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v10y2019i1d10.1038_s41467-019-13617-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Single-molecule detection on a portable 3D-printed microscope

Author

Listed:
  • James W. P. Brown

    (EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science, and School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales)

  • Arnaud Bauer

    (EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science, and School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales)

  • Mark E Polinkovsky

    (EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science, and School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales)

  • Akshay Bhumkar

    (EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science, and School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales)

  • Dominic J. B. Hunter

    (The Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland)

  • Katharina Gaus

    (EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science, and School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales
    ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging, University of New South Wales)

  • Emma Sierecki

    (EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science, and School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales)

  • Yann Gambin

    (EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science, and School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales)

Abstract

Single-molecule assays have, by definition, the ultimate sensitivity and represent the next frontier in biological analysis and diagnostics. However, many of these powerful technologies require dedicated laboratories and trained personnel and have therefore remained research tools for specialists. Here, we present a single-molecule confocal system built from a 3D-printed scaffold, resulting in a compact, plug and play device called the AttoBright. This device performs single photon counting and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) in a simple format and is widely applicable to the detection of single fluorophores, proteins, liposomes or bacteria. The power of single-molecule detection is demonstrated by detecting single α-synuclein amyloid fibrils, that are currently evaluated as biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease, with an improved sensitivity of >100,000-fold over bulk measurements.

Suggested Citation

  • James W. P. Brown & Arnaud Bauer & Mark E Polinkovsky & Akshay Bhumkar & Dominic J. B. Hunter & Katharina Gaus & Emma Sierecki & Yann Gambin, 2019. "Single-molecule detection on a portable 3D-printed microscope," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-13617-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13617-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-13617-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-019-13617-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-13617-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.