Thursday July 7, 2005
Friday July 8, 2005

"Label-Free Biological Microarray Imaging - Resonant Cavity Imaging Biosensor"
Mr. David Bergstein
Boston University

The Resonant Cavity Imaging Biosensor (RCIB) detects binding between target biomolecules from a sample and probe biomolecules fixed to a microarray surface with the potential for tens of thousands of simultaneous parallel observation sites. It operates without fluorescent or radioactive dyes for labeling target molecules. An optical IR beam couples resonantly through a cavity constructed from Bragg mirrors that contains the microarray surface; the wavelength of the IR beam is swept using a tunable IR laser source; an IR camera monitors cavity transmittance at each pixel, creating a highly parallel signature of transmittance versus wavelength for the microarray surface. The system relies on the use of commercial telecommunications hardware that has become readily available in recent years. RCIB improves on existing label-free methods by offering dramatically improved throughput necessary to meet the needs of the microarray user community. A patent application has been filed by Boston University on the principle of RCIB. RCIB binding data will help doctors’ diagnosis patients, pharmaceutical companies search for drug targets, and researchers understand disease.