Microcavity Surface Bioconjugation Using Unilamellar Lipid Membranes for Label-Free and Ultrasensitive Detection (UA19-073)

This invention is a new surface smoothing method for microtoroid optical resonators, resulting in ultrasensitive detection and reduced scattering loss when looking for key biomarkers in medical imaging. This new method produces higher Q-factors and reduces scattering loss, which is important when detecting key biomarkers such as amyloid-_. This has potential application in biomarker detection for patients with COVID-19, as well as vaccine research.Background:Optical resonators are a key component of biosensors used in many different applications. The resonator must have a smooth surface to allow the capture of light at different wavelengths. The ability of a resonator to perform suchcapture effectively is referred to as its Q-factor (quality factor). Traditional ways of smoothing a resonator’s surface still leave residual roughness that leads to a lower Q-factor and less accurate detection of biomarkers.Learn more at https://bit.ly/UA19-073 Anne Spieth annes@tla.arizona.edu 520-626-1577