We have developed a method that employs nanocapsules, optical trapping, and single-pulse laser photolysis for delivering bioactive molecules to cells with both high spatial and temporal resolutions. This method is particularly suitable for a cell-culture setting, in which a single nanocapsule can be optically trapped and positioned at a pre-defined location next to the cell, followed by single-pulse laser photolysis to release the contents of the nanocapsule onto the cell. To parallelize this method such that a large array of nanocapsules can be manipulated, positioned, and photolyzed simultaneously, we have turned to the use of spatial light modulators and holographic beam shaping techniques. This paper outlines the progress we have made so far and details the issues we had to address in order to achieve efficient parallel optical manipulations of nanocapsules and particles.

Date Published: 27 August 2010
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 7762, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VII, 77621T (27 August 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.862519

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7762:
Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation VII
Kishan Dholakia; Gabriel C. Spalding, Editor(s)