Upconversion Super Dots for Biophotonics and Nanophotonics Applications

Detection, quantification, or localisation of particular cells or molecules – quickly, sensitively and accurately – is fundamental to many areas of modern biomedical research and industry. My talk will showcase our research from developing both luminescent materials and photonic sensing techniques to integrated biomedical devices, towards solving the ‘needle in the haystack’ problem in rapid diagnostics of rare cancer cell types. This year, we developed a low-power high-contrast upconversion super resolution nanoscopy technique for subcellular imaging applications. These developments enable rare-event detection, quantification and visualization for the discovery of new biomarkers and development of diagnostic tests. A joint effort across a broad spectrum of disciplines via interdisciplinary, interdisciplinary and industry collaborations will have a major impact in quantitative luminescence measurements of low-abundance biomolecules and single cells for a broad range of diagnostics applications.