Applications of high-brightness 280nm light emitting diodes in biomedical optical imaging

Biomedical science uses organic fluorescent probes as specific labels in live cell microscopy and even as an aid to surgery. Problems include a broad emission spectrum, easily confused with label emissions and rapid fading. Inorganic nanocrystals or ‘quantum dots’, first developed for paint technology, may provide the cure. Similar in size to organic probes, they emit light at very sharply-defined wavelengths and resist fading. They have recently been used to follow individual glycine receptors in neurones and to provide infra-red images of lymph nodes in whole animals. Their chief weakness is they all require excitation in the ultra-violet at 280nm. This proposal is based on collaboration with a UK company that leads in the development of light-emitting diodes at this wavelength. We will use these in combination with a new optical method which we have developed to provide super-resolution within living cells grown close to a mirror. The purpose of this research is to explore fast cell surface events, which we have recently studied in normal and diseased red blood cells.