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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Detection of Intracellular Gene Expression in Live Cells of Murine, Human and Porcine Origin Using Fluorescence-labeled Nanoparticles
Published on: November 13, 2015
Targeted optical injection of gold nanoparticles into single mammalian cells
Craig McDougall1, David J Stevenson, Christian T A Brown
1SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, KY16 9SS, UK. cm70@st-andrews.ac.uk
Abstract:
We present an all optical technique for the targeted delivery of single 100 nm diameter gold nanoparticles into a specified region of the interior of an individual mammalian cell through a combination of optical tweezing and optical injection. The internalisation of the nanoparticle is verified by confocal laser scanning microscopy and confocal laser scanning reflectance microscopy. This represents the first time that nano sized particles have been tweezed and optically injected into mammalian cells using only light, and provides a novel methodology for internalising nanosphere based biosensors within specific intracellular regions of a mammalian cell.

