title: Femtosecond Laser Microfabrication of an Integrated Device for Optical Release and Sensing of Bioactive Compounds.
abstract: Flash photolysis of caged compounds is one of the most powerful approaches to investigate the dynamic response of living cells. Monolithically integrated devices suitable for optical uncaging are in great demand since they greatly simplify the experiments and allow their automation. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of an integrated bio-photonic device for the optical release of caged compounds. Such a device is fabricated using femtosecond laser micromachining of a glass substrate. More in detail, femtosecond lasers are used both to cut the substrate in order to create a pit for cell growth and to inscribe optical waveguides for spatially selective uncaging of the compounds present in the culture medium. The operation of this monolithic bio-photonic device is tested using both free and caged fluorescent compounds to probe its capability of multipoint release and optical sensing. Application of this device to the study of neuronal network activity can be envisaged.
authors.affiliation: NeuroEngineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory, Bioengineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy. diego.ghezzi@iit.it.|Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, The Italian Institute of Technology, 16163 Genova, Italy. diego.ghezzi@iit.it.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ghezzi
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN) - CNR, Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy. rebeca.martinez@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Rebeca Martinez
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Vazquez
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN) - CNR, Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy. roberto.osellame@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Osellame
authors.affiliation: San Raffaele Scientific Institute and Vita-Salute University, 20132 Milano, Italy. flavia.valtorta@hsr.it.|Unit of Molecular Neuroscience, The Italian Institute of Technology, 20132 Milano, Italy. flavia.valtorta@hsr.it.
authors.forename: Flavia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Valtorta
authors.affiliation: NeuroEngineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory, Bioengineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy. alessandra.pedrocchi@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pedrocchi
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN) - CNR, Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy. giuseppe.dellavalle@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Giuseppe Della
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Valle
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN) - CNR, Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy. roberta.ramponi@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramponi
authors.affiliation: NeuroEngineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory, Bioengineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy. giancarlo.ferrigno@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferrigno
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN) - CNR, Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy. giulio.cerullo@fisi.polimi.it.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cerullo
keywords: Caged compound; femtosecond microfabrication; laser uncaging; optical release; optical sensing; waveguides