Physics Commons^™

Real-Time Microbe Detection Based On Director Distortions Around Growing Immune Complexes In Lyotropic Chromonic Liquid Crystals, Sergij V. Shiyanovskii, T. Schneider, Ivan I. Smalyukh, T. Ishikawa, G. D. Niehaus, K. J. Doane, C. J. Woolverton, Oleg Lavrentovich

Oleg Lavrentovich

We describe director distortions in the nematic liquid crystal (LC) caused by a spherical particle with tangential surface orientation of the director and show that light transmittance through the distorted region is a steep function of the particle's size. The effect allows us to propose a real-time microbial sensor based on a nontoxic lyotropic chromonic LC (LCLC) that detects and amplifies the presence of immune complexes. A cassette is filled with LCLC, antibody, and antigen-bearing particles. Small and isolated particles cause no macroscopic distortions of the LCLC. Upon antibody-antigen binding, the growing immune complexes distort the director and cause detectable …