New nanotechnology based technique used for identifying the protein
27 October 2009Interdisciplinary researchers at Boston and Tufts University have used Infrared (IR) spectroscopy technique and demonstrated that IR technique can identify the vibrational fingerprints of protein even if it is in extremely small in quantity. The technique can significantly alter the future diagnostic studies of diseases and can provide effective and quick treatments.
Conventionally biomolecules are identified by fluorescence spectroscopy where bright fluorescence tags are tracked for interaction between the molecules, however sometimes the fluorescence tags are as high as molecules and thus interferes with the interaction. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) technique is widely used for fingerprinting various structures, however by incorporating nanotechnology in it, researchers were successful in identifying the vibrational fingerprints of the biomolecules. Further the limitation of fluorescence spectroscopy is also minimized using the infrared spectroscopy.
The rotational or vibrational frequencies of the molecules are specific to individual molecules and these frequencies mostly lie in the infrared frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum and thus can be determined by using infrared spectroscopy. However especially if the quantity of the sample is low, ordinary infrared spectroscopy is unable to detect these molecules.
Researchers added the features of nanotechnology and nanophotonicvs and were able to overcome the problem faced while using infrared spectroscopy. Researchers used arrays of gold nanoparticles as nano antenna and thus enhanced the ability of the technique to detect the molecules. By using the gold nanoparticles, researchers were able to enhance the vibrational signatures more than hundred thousand times. The work has been reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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