Dan Pierce1
University of Maryland1
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has made it abundantly clear that there is a growing need for the capacity to have analytically precise detection of pathogens be performed as quickly as possible for the best public health outcome. Fluorophore Induced Plasmonic Current (FIPC) is a newly developed testing modality that is based upon the principles of modern fluorescence detection, but differs in its implementation and applicability. Where a traditional fluorescence-based assay would require a laboratory environment and an expensive fluorimeter, an FIPC only requires a current detection device and an excitation source to achieve similar results. Based on the properties of FIPC wherein a fluorophore that is excited close to the surface of a plasmonically active metal nanoparticle film is able to transfer a portion of its excitation energy to the film, these proposed assays revolve around this property for the detection of various fluorescent tags and probes for the analytical detection of DNA and proteins. The goal of this presentation is to demonstrate the advances made in the assay development side of FIPC research, and to highlight its strengths and identify its shortcomings when compared to traditional fluorescence detection.