Surface Chemistries for high sensitivity, low burden Waveguide

The focus of the studentship is to develop the immobilisation and
surface modification chemistries for successful attachment of biological
recognition elements to waveguide surfaces so that their functionality
and stability are optimised, and the interferences from non-specific
binding of species also present in the analyte medium are minimised.
The waveguide enhanced Raman spectroscopy (WERS) uses a carefully
designed planar waveguide geometry in which a Ta2O5 film of carefully
controlled thickness is deposited on a suitable substrate. Ta2O5 is chosen
because of its high optical index. In addition to having a high index,
Ta2O5 is also biocompatible , stable in solution, and can be modified
using chlorosilane chemistry or alkyl phosphates . One of the major
challenges to be addressed will be to apply, and extend these, surface
modification chemistries on the waveguide structures and apply these
to the immobilization of the antibodies. Once the immobilization has
been achieved the second challenge is to apply these surfaces for
biosensing in real samples. This will require the optimisation of the
surface chemistry and the design of suitable assay protocols.