Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is considered as the gold standard for nucleic acid detection, but the employed Peltier block also make commercial PCR system bulky, time and energy consumable. Photonic PCR can be a good candidate for replacing the traditional heating strategy because of its excellent photothermal properties. Bifunctional plasmonic magnetic nanoparticles (PMNs) combined the photothermal and magnetic properties, endowing it excellent potential in photonic PCR. PMNs are prepared by gold coating outside the magnetic core, which can be used as the nanoheater for heating PCR solution to 90°C in several seconds upon the irradiation of infra-red light. After PCR, the PMNs can be separated by magnet easily from solution for reducing fluorescence quenching. Furthermore, our PPT-RTPCR platform based on the photothermal effect of PMNs for RNA detection shows limit of detection (LOD) as low as 1.05 copies/μL, which is comparable with the reference commercial PCR at 0.92 copies/μL.
Bifunctional nanoparticle of combining magnetic and plasmonic nanomaterials retain both unique properties, contributing to the high photothermal performance, excellent biocompatibility, physiological stability, low cytotoxicity and easy separation. Herein, we report a core-shell plasmonic magnetic nanostructure (PMNs), then introduce the plasmonic photothermal polymerase chain reaction (PPT-PCR) platform for fast, sensitive, cheap, and simple nucleic acid detection based on PMNs. Magnetic nanoparticles can be synthesized by solvothermal reaction. PMNs can be prepared after Au coating on the magnetic core, which can act as nanoheater and heat solution to 95°C in several seconds upon infra-red (IR) light irradiation, and can be collected by magnet easily. Furthermore, our platforms utilize ultrafast PCR amplification based on the photothermal effect of plasmonic magnetic nanoparticles for molecular diagnostics through two modes, including in-situ end-point quantitative fluorescence detection (PPT-qPCR) and colorimetric assay (PPT-cPCR), having comparable limit of detection (LOD) on DNA targets.
Polymerase chain reaction have been among the most powerful tools for many biomedical research. However, current PCR technology rely on thermocycling that uses time-consuming and expensive Peltier-block heating. Various methods including mechanical manipulation, microfluidics and nano-sized droplets have been tried and studied to improve and replace these problems. However, there are still several key limitations concerning device fabrication and complex sample preparation. Photothermal effect is a phenomenon in which energy is converted from absorbed photons to thermal energy by nanoparticles. Due to its high spatiotemporal resolution, strong and controllable optical properties, the plasmonic photothermal-based nanoparticles are expected to show great potential for the development of nucleic acid amplification-based biosensors. Here, we introduce a novel plasmonic photothermal-based PCR assay for fast, cost-effective and quantitative detection.
Conference Committee Involvement (6)
Enhanced Spectroscopies and Nanoimaging 2025
3 August 2025 | San Diego, California, United States
Enhanced Spectroscopies and Nanoimaging 2024
18 August 2024 | San Diego, California, United States
Enhanced Spectroscopies and Nanoimaging 2023
20 August 2023 | San Diego, California, United States
Enhanced Spectroscopies and Nanoimaging 2022
21 August 2022 | San Diego, California, United States
Enhanced Spectroscopies and Nanoimaging 2021
2 August 2021 | San Diego, California, United States
Enhanced Spectroscopies and Nanoimaging 2020
24 August 2020 | Online Only, California, United States
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