Thomas Finn, Nick Mayer, and Dr. Urayama, with the help of Taylor Phillips, Bibek Dhakal, and the Department of Physics, elaborate on the next steps of metabolic sensing using autofluorescence in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, baker’s yeast. A turbid mixture of baker’s yeast cells in Phosphate-Buffered Saline was excited using a nitrogen-gas discharge laser with a 1-nm nominal pulse width at a 337-nm wavelength to induce the absorption and emission of light. The emission spectrum is quantified using spectral phasor analysis and changes in emission spectra are interpreted as changes in the cells’ metabolism due to the autofluorescent properties of Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NADH) and Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate (NADPH), which are two prominent metabolic cofactors. Until recently, NADH and NADPH could not be distinguished due to their similar emission spectrum. Using potassium cyanide to induce changes in NADH, hydrogen peroxide to induce changes in NADPH, and spectral phasor analysis, changes in NADH and NADPH could be separated. If NADH and NADPH are distinguished in a collagen background that simulates tissue-like environments, the possibility of monitoring metabolic diseases like heart disease or oxidative stress diseases like Alzheimer’s disease become promising. Additionally, the reduction of the nitrogen-gas discharge setup to an LED based one will yield more mobile metabolic sensing which have applications in medicine. These next steps will demonstrate our understanding of biological physics, and bioengineering.
Authors: Thomas Finn, Nick Majer
Faculty Advisor: Paul Urayama, Physics
You must be logged in to post a comment.