Cell-Lasers

The goals of the grant titled »Cell-Lasers« are the study of interactions between lasers embedded in cells and the biological processes within the cells. Humar has before, for the first time, demonstrated a laser completely embedded inside a live human cell. However, to date it has only been demonstrated that laser light can be generated within the cell, but not how is the laser output coupled to the biophysical and biochemical processes inside cells. The transition from detecting laser emission from bio-integrated lasers instead of fluorescence represents a paradigm shift. Due to narrow emission linewidth, high coherence, large intensity and highly nonlinear output from lasers, they open huge opportunities in ultrasensitive sensing, spectral multiplexing and microscopy. The goal of Cell-Lasers is to study these intimate interactions including forces acting within cells, properties of natural cavities in lipid droplets and the intracellular chemical environment. Since the spectral positions of laser lines do not change with propagation through scattering and absorbing media, the cell lasers will enable multiplexed sensing, tracking and localization of cells embedded deep inside tissues. In the long term, Cell-Lasers aims to transform the bio-integrated lasers from being a pure scientific curiosity into a powerful tool for the study of biophysical and biochemical processes taking place on a single cell level, which can be utilized in research and medical applications.