Single-molecule detection on a portable 3D-printed microscope.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31827096.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-13617-0 and PMC identifier 6906517.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
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.