Viruses as Optical Probes

摘要

We report here on two new methods, which have the potential to use the advantages of optical spectroscopy (physiological environment, chemical specificity, non-intrusiveness, time resolution) to accede, in-vitro, to the formation of virus capsids, phase transitions and cellular transit, one particle at a time. The first approach is the encapsulation of nanoparticles of different sizes and surface chemistry inside virus capsids. The nanoparticle cores act as spectroscopic enhancers and templates with tunable surface properties for the virus self-assembly from protein subunits. The second approach is to use the optical near-field to trap single particles in a physiological fluid inside nanochannels lithographically patterned on a surface. These two approaches, combined, will open the way to real-time monitoring of virus formation and intracellular imaging using viruses as optical probes.