Title: Seeing the motion: hexagonal boron nitride for nanomotion spectroscopy integrated with fluorescence imaging
Research proposal No: 1.1.1.9/LZP/1/24/138
Duration: 01.02.2025.-31.01.2028.
Project Leader: Ph.D. Līga Jasulaņeca
Total budget: 184 140 EUR
ISSP UL budget: 9 207 EUR
Project description:
Nanomechanical vibrations have recently emerged as a powerful tool for single-cell rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing, enabled by motion transducing graphene nanodrums. While graphene has demonstrated strong potential for detecting the movement and viability of single bacteria, its high quenching of fluorescence signal impedes determination of the source of intracellular nanomotion. To overcome this limitation, this project will investigate alternative two-dimensional materials for developing sensitive, miniaturized, flexible, and biocompatible nanodrum sensors that are based on optical interferometric detection to enable simultaneous nanomotion and fluorescence signal read-out.
Specifically, we propose using hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) to enable simultaneous fluorescence imaging of labeled bacteria and measurement of their intrinsic vibrations. By analyzing the variance in vibrational signals, we aim to correlate optical and mechanical data. This approach will provide insights into intracellular sources of bacterial motion and ultimately facilitate rapid, in vivo single-cell antibiotic testing.