OPTIBIO · Optical resonances for label-free biosensing

In case of successful evaluation of the present application Robert Horvath plans to join to the Research Institute of Technical Physics and Materials Science (MFA) and can return work in his home country, continuing the momentum built up by 7 years of very fruitful research abroad. At the host institute a long term strategic plan is to build up a strong research direction in the field of bio- and chemical sensing and conduct basic and applied research in these fields. The applicant could strengthen this research direction with his relevant experiences in the field of optical waveguide based biosensors and their applications. Particularly, the present project aims to develop novel optical waveguide based sensors capable of supporting more detailed information about the structure of thin films or living cells with increased sensitivity in a label-free manner. This is achieved by designing and fabricating novel waveguide configurations supporting several modes and using different excitation wavelengths. Especially, novel Si and metal-oxide processing technology available at the host institute will be explored and combined with the applicants experience in soft lithography. The fabricated sensors will be applied to test and develop a novel sensor matrix based on functionalized protein assemblies for detecting small analytes and living cells. Theoretical modelling of these resonator structures and their sensing capabilities will be an important part of the research.