Nanoscale delivery systems have been investigated for therapy due to their ability to deliver drugs to cells. However, their application is hampered by experimental challenges, such as the quantification of the released drug in cells. Here, we describe a hybrid nanoplatform for monitoring Galunisertib release in cells by Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS). Specifically, the drug Galunisertib is encapsulated in diatomite nanoparticles (DNPs) decorated by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and capped by gelatin. The combination of DNP loading capacities with the drug Raman enhancement provided by AuNPs enables bio-imaging and drug delivery.

We experimentally test a novel chiral sensing platform that allows uniform surface-enhanced fields for sensing through Bloch surface waves (BSWs). We introduce the concept of superchiral surface waves originating from the coherent superposition of TE and TM modes of BSWs in a one-dimensional photonic crystal with a birefringent termination. The resulting platform provides superchiral fields over a wide spectral range (down to the UV) and arbitrarily large areas, with circular dichroism signals and chiral sorting forces more than 2 orders of magnitude larger than those provided by plane wave excitation.

Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) and Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence (MEF)-based optical biosensors provide unique advantages compared to other sensing technologies to design point-of-care (POC) devices. These devices exploit the capability of noble-metal nanoparticles of absorbing light at a well-defined wavelength. Herein, we propose a flexible optical device based on spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) embedded in poly-(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels with varying molecular weights. As a hydrogel, PEGDA represents a biocompatible and transparent polymeric network to design wearable, 3D, plasmonic biosensors for the detection of targets with different molecular weights.

Combined Brillouin and Raman measurements have been performed on human U87-MG glioblastoma cells and spheroids in order to address the biomechanical and biochemical properties in 2D and 3D tumor model. It could be shown that the stiffness of spheroids is significantly higher than that of single cells. The difference might be caused by the different biochemical composition. This fact suggests that spheroids represent a better tumor model as they reflect the conditions of tumors in a more realistic manner.

An optical biosensor for proteomic breast cancer biomarker detection in complex media is presented. Bloch Surface Waves excited onto one dimensional photonic crystal were used to probe the interaction of HER2 with three antibody species and an inert protein. The optical system combines Label-Free readings to track the bioassay real-time development and Fluorescence emission quantification to evaluate the level of specific interaction between the antigen and the antibodies. The results confirm a distinguishable level of affinity between the antibodies and the analyte according to their specificity even at low antibody surface density.

In this work, we communicate a theoretical investigation on a naturally occurring photonic crystal: the iridoplast, an adapted photosynthetic organelle found in plants living under low light conditions. Our numerical study suggests that these structures could be controlling the absorption and the reflection of light in order to enhance photosynthetic activity. We model purely light dependent structural changes based on experimental reports. This work connects one of the most fundamental and important processes in nature with the field of photonics.

Mid-infrared difference spectroscopy can probe the functional conformational changes of light-sensitive proteins, however intrinsic limitations of standard IR spectroscopy in terms of diffraction and number of probed proteins require that the mid-IR experiments be performed on huge numbers of molecules. In this work, we apply for the first time IR difference nanospectroscopy, based on the use of mid-IR lasers and an atomic force microscope (AFM), to single lipid membrane patches containing Channelrhodopsin, obtaining relevant spectroscopy results for optogenetic applications and for future experimental studies of light-sensitive proteins at the nanoscale.