Biological activities investigated by single cell analysis at nanoscales

Single cell analysis is required to decipher a myriad of cellular processes; however, it is very challenging to develop a single cell analysis method with high sensitivity, excellent selectivity and high spatiotemporal resolution. This PhD research project focuses on the innovation of a unique optic...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Zheng, Xin Ting
Other Authors: Li Changming
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/48069
_version_ 1826114988059656192
author Zheng, Xin Ting
author2 Li Changming
author_facet Li Changming
Zheng, Xin Ting
author_sort Zheng, Xin Ting
collection NTU
description Single cell analysis is required to decipher a myriad of cellular processes; however, it is very challenging to develop a single cell analysis method with high sensitivity, excellent selectivity and high spatiotemporal resolution. This PhD research project focuses on the innovation of a unique optical and electrical single cell sensing platform to understand the physico-chemical fundamentals involved in the detection schemes and to investigate physiological processes in single cells for cell biology studies as well as disease diagnosis. An optical fiber based nanobiosensor has been first constructed to detect the over-expression of a general cancer biomarker, telomerases in single cancer cells. The antibody-immobilized nanoprobe inserted into MCF-7 cell nucleus shows significantly higher average (F-F0)/F0 ratio than that of the negative control human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) nucleus. The average (F-F0)/F0 ratio in the MCF-7 cytoplasm is significantly smaller than that in the nucleus to clearly verify the nuclear localization of telomerase. The nanobiosensor may provide a potential method for cancer detection, and also demonstrate a universal approach to detect other low expression proteins in a single living cell. To study tumor metabolism at single cell level, a unique nanoscale optical fiber lactate sensor has been developed to successfully distinguish the higher extracellular lactate concentrations of cancer cells from that of normal cells, which supports Warburg hypothesis. Furthermore, lactate efflux inhibition profiles after exposure to a monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) inhibitor are different for HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cells demonstrating the nanosensor’s potential to evaluate the effect of metabolic agents on cancer metabolism and survival. A bifunctional electro-optical nanoprobe with integrated nanoring electrode and optical nanotip has also been designed to simultaneously detect both electrical and optical signals in real-time with high spatial resolution.
first_indexed 2024-10-01T03:48:10Z
format Thesis
id ntu-10356/48069
institution Nanyang Technological University
language English
last_indexed 2024-10-01T03:48:10Z
publishDate 2012
record_format dspace
spelling ntu-10356/480692023-03-03T15:59:32Z Biological activities investigated by single cell analysis at nanoscales Zheng, Xin Ting Li Changming School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Centre for Advanced Bionanosystems DRNTU::Science::Medicine::Biosensors DRNTU::Engineering::Bioengineering Single cell analysis is required to decipher a myriad of cellular processes; however, it is very challenging to develop a single cell analysis method with high sensitivity, excellent selectivity and high spatiotemporal resolution. This PhD research project focuses on the innovation of a unique optical and electrical single cell sensing platform to understand the physico-chemical fundamentals involved in the detection schemes and to investigate physiological processes in single cells for cell biology studies as well as disease diagnosis. An optical fiber based nanobiosensor has been first constructed to detect the over-expression of a general cancer biomarker, telomerases in single cancer cells. The antibody-immobilized nanoprobe inserted into MCF-7 cell nucleus shows significantly higher average (F-F0)/F0 ratio than that of the negative control human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) nucleus. The average (F-F0)/F0 ratio in the MCF-7 cytoplasm is significantly smaller than that in the nucleus to clearly verify the nuclear localization of telomerase. The nanobiosensor may provide a potential method for cancer detection, and also demonstrate a universal approach to detect other low expression proteins in a single living cell. To study tumor metabolism at single cell level, a unique nanoscale optical fiber lactate sensor has been developed to successfully distinguish the higher extracellular lactate concentrations of cancer cells from that of normal cells, which supports Warburg hypothesis. Furthermore, lactate efflux inhibition profiles after exposure to a monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) inhibitor are different for HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cells demonstrating the nanosensor’s potential to evaluate the effect of metabolic agents on cancer metabolism and survival. A bifunctional electro-optical nanoprobe with integrated nanoring electrode and optical nanotip has also been designed to simultaneously detect both electrical and optical signals in real-time with high spatial resolution. DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (SCBE) 2012-03-01T02:54:39Z 2012-03-01T02:54:39Z 2012 2012 Thesis Zheng, X. T. (2012). Biological activities investigated by single cell analysis at nanoscales. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/48069 10.32657/10356/48069 en 146 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Science::Medicine::Biosensors
DRNTU::Engineering::Bioengineering
Zheng, Xin Ting
Biological activities investigated by single cell analysis at nanoscales
title Biological activities investigated by single cell analysis at nanoscales
title_full Biological activities investigated by single cell analysis at nanoscales
title_fullStr Biological activities investigated by single cell analysis at nanoscales
title_full_unstemmed Biological activities investigated by single cell analysis at nanoscales
title_short Biological activities investigated by single cell analysis at nanoscales
title_sort biological activities investigated by single cell analysis at nanoscales
topic DRNTU::Science::Medicine::Biosensors
DRNTU::Engineering::Bioengineering
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/48069
work_keys_str_mv AT zhengxinting biologicalactivitiesinvestigatedbysinglecellanalysisatnanoscales