Plasmonic Sensing: From Biomimetic Nanostructures to Nanopores
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Plasmonic biosensing has emerged as a powerful method of label-free and remote sensing. Plasmonic nanostructures such as metal nanoparticles or nanoholes/nanopores localize and enhance the light in a nanoscale volume, providing extreme sensitivity in a very small detection volume. In this project a plasmonic devices integrated into a microfluidic devices will be developed. Gold nanostructures are fabricated in order to detect molecules passing through biomimetic layers. Such devices can be used in various applications where detection of extremely low concentrations is needed. These include such sensors are integrated into lab-on-a-chip, single molecule detection, molecular sorting, DNA sequencing, etc. The Ph.D. student will gain deep experience in advanced nanofabrication methods, microfluidics, and nanooptics. For this project we are looking for a highly motivated Ph.D. student with a degree in science or engineering and with a keen interest in nanofabrication, microscopy, spectroscopy, biophysics, and chemistry.

Principle Investigator: Dr. Yasin Ekinci
Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology
Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen-PSI
Phone: 0 56 310 28 24
E-mail: yasin.ekinci@psi.ch
Web : http://www.psi.ch/lmn/yasin-ekinci

Co-PI and Ph.D. supervisor: Prof. Roderick Lim
Nanobiology Laboratory
Biozentrum and the Swiss Nanoscience Institute
Klingelbergstrasse 70, 4056 Basel
Phone: 061 267 2083
Email: roderick.lim@unibas.ch
Web: http://www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/research/groups-platforms/overview/unit/lim/

Further Reading:
1. J. N. Anker, W. P. Hall, O. Lyandres, N. C. Shah, J. Zhao, and R. P. Van Duyne, “Biosensing with plasmonic nanosensors,” Nature Mater. 7, 442 (2008).
2. P. Zijlstra, P. M. R. Paulo, and M. Orrit, 
"Optical detection of single non-absorbing molecules using the surface plasmon resonance of a gold nanorod,"
Nature Nanotechnol. 7, 379 (2012).
3. S. M. Nie and S. R. Emery, “Probing single molecules and single nanoparticles by surface-enhanced Raman scattering,” Science 275, 1102 (1997).
4. T. Sandén, R. Wyss, C. Santschi, G. Hassaine, C. Deluz, O.J.F. Martin, S. Wennmalm, and H. Vogel, “A Zeptoliter Volume Meter for Analysis of Single Protein Molecules,” Nano Lett. 12, 370 (2012).
5. S. W. Kowalczyk, L. Kapinos, T. Magalhães, P. van Nies, R. Y. H. Lim, and C. Dekker, “Single-Molecule Transport Across an Individual Biomimetic Nuclear Pore Complex,” Nature Nanotechnol. 6, 433 (2011).
6. J. Clarke, H-C. Wu, L. Jayasinghe, A. Patel, S. Reid, and H. Bayley, “Continuous Base Identification for Single Molecule Nanopore DNA Sequencing,” Nature Nanotechnol. 4, 265 (2009).