Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) provides fluorescence signals sensitive to intra- and inter-molecular distances in the 1-10 nm range. Widely applied in the optical imaging environment, FRET enables visualization of physicochemical processes in molecular interactions and conformation changes. We reported photoacoustic imaging of FRET, based on non-radiative decay that produces heat and subsequent acoustic waves. The experimental results show that photoacoustic imaging offers better penetration into scattering biological tissue. Through its ability to three-dimensionally image tissue with scalable resolution, photoacoustic microscopy provides a beneficial biomedical tool to broaden the in vivo application of the FRET technique.

Date Published: 4 March 2013
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8581, Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2013, 85812E (4 March 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2004150

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8581:
Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2013
Alexander A. Oraevsky; Lihong V. Wang, Editor(s)