Nanohole optical trapping is a tool that has been shown to analyze proteins at the single molecule level using pure samples. The next step is to detect and study single molecules with dirty samples. We demonstrate that using our double nanohole optical tweezing configuration, single particles in an egg white solution can be classified when trapped. Different sized molecules provide different signal variations in their trapped state, allowing the proteins to be statistically characterized. Root mean squared variation and trap stiffness are methods used on trapped signals to distinguish between the different proteins. This method to isolate and determine single molecules in heterogeneous samples provides huge potential to become a reliable tool for use within biomedical and scientific communities.

Date Published: 25 August 2017
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 10347, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation XIV, 103470F (25 August 2017); doi: 10.1117/12.2273358

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10347:
Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation XIV
Kishan Dholakia; Gabriel C. Spalding, Editor(s)