Cellular Surgery Using Gallium Nitride Nanowires
A render of Angioplasty's "nanoknife"; click on the picture to learn more
Concept
Cellular ablation using ultrashort and finely tuned laser pulses had been used to demonstrate organelle removal and induce extracellular content absorption via microporation. However, materials suitable for this end and conventional manufacturing processes had previously rendered this process prohibitively expensive. Recently, companies have developed electrode based approaches (Angioplasty's "nanoknife" uses electrodes to produce 3000V/cm bursts) as an alternative to this approach. However, this tool is primarily designed for ablation of cancerous regions as opposed to discrete targeting at the cellular level. Our research proposal sought to develop a low cost, prototypical system capable of cellular structure ablation at 100nm accuracies.
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Technology
The material properties of gallium nitride nanowires induce unique behaviors. As semiconductors, their size (~100 nm dia.), extremely low defect-density, bandgap in the UV
(Eg = 3.45eV), high mobility (μ), and high breakdown field make GaN NWs ideal for nano-scale ultraviolet lasing.
(Eg = 3.45eV), high mobility (μ), and high breakdown field make GaN NWs ideal for nano-scale ultraviolet lasing.
SEM images of c-axis, catalyst free, GaN nanowires grown on Si/Si02. On the right is a cross section, showing nanowires ~10 μm long. Above is a plane view of the same NWs, showing hexagonal crystal structure and ~100 nm diameter.
Proposed Design
Using a high resolution spectrometer in conjunction with lasing nanowires, we propose a microsurgery center, where the user would operate with precision on the nano scale. Although fine tuning the positioning and intensity of the nanowire would be a difficult task, the benefits of such an undertaking would be enormous.
Applications
A device capable of operating with precision an order of magnitude greater than currently available would enable new levels of experimentation in molecular and cellular developmental biology. In addition to enabling researchers to remove organelles and cellular structures, it could also have far reaching implication in stem cell and transfection sciences, as localized delivery and mitochondrial DNA would be accessible.