Label-free optofluidic biomolecular sensing using a photonic crystal nanotweezer: The wiggle assay

Here we introduce a novel optofluidic biosensing method using a nanotweezer which allows a simple and rapid biological assay. Optical biosensing methods have provided necessities that biosensors needed such as high sensitivity and specificity with a price. The methodology we present rely on an optical trapping and an observation with epifluorescent microscopy. We utilize an optical trap and observe a change of the trap stiffness, which is sensitive to the change of the size of an optically trapped particle caused by the binding of label-free target biomolecules. We have demonstrated reliability and consistency of our sensing method with experimental results.