One non-limiting and exemplary embodiment provides a metal microscopic structure capable of detecting a low-concentration analyte with high sensitivity. The metal microscopic structure includes a base member including multiple protrusions arrayed at predetermined intervals, and multiple projections made of a metal film covering the base member and configured to generate surface plasmons upon irradiation with light. A film thickness of the metal film positioned in a bottom portion of a gap between every adjacent two of the multiple projections is greater than a height of the multiple protrusions and is more than or equal to 90% and less than or equal to 100% of a film thickness of the metal film deposited on top portions of the multiple protrusions.

A method for detecting a reversibly photoswitchable chemical species in a sample, includes the steps of: a) illuminating the sample with light suitable to be absorbed by the chemical species triggering a reaction affecting an optical property of the chemical species, the first light being periodically-modulated at a fundamental modulation frequency; b) measuring the evolution of the optical property; c) extracting at least one of an in-phase component at a frequency which is an even multiple of the fundamental modulation frequency; and a quadrature component at a frequency which is an odd multiple of the fundamental modulation frequency of a signal representing the evolution; and d) using the extracted component or components for detecting the chemical species. An apparatus for carrying out the method is also provided.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for measuring respiratory sensitization and a respiratory sensitization measuring reagent that can be used to evaluate a test substance for respiratory sensitization without using an animal. According to the present invention, there is provided a method for measuring respiratory sensitization, including reacting a N-(arylalkylcarbonyl)cysteine with a test substance; reacting an α-N-(arylalkylcarbonyl)lysine with the test substance; detecting the amount of each of the above compounds or a product thereof after the reaction by optical measurement; and determining respiratory sensitization from the ratio of the reactivity of the α-N-(arylalkylcarbonyl)lysine with the test substance to the reactivity of the N-(arylalkylcarbonyl)cysteine with the test substance or from the reactivity of the α-N-(arylalkylcarbonyl)lysine with the test substance.

Multiplexed fluorescent imaging which is essential for finding out how various biomolecules are spatially distributed in cells or tissues is disclosed. The present disclosure may obtain 10 or more different biomolecule images with one labeling and imaging by newly designing selection of fluorophores, detection spectral ranges, and signal unmixing algorithm. The present disclosure is a blind unmixing technology for unmixing an image without an emission spectrum of fluorophore, and in this technology, 4 pairs of fluorophores are used, and each pair consists of two fluorophores in which emission spectra are overlapped. Each pair of fluorophores is strongly excited by only one excitation laser. Two images with different detection spectral ranges are obtained for each pair, and two images are unmixed via mutual information minimization without fluorophore emission spectrum information. Two images also may be unmixed via Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization and fluorescence measurement based unmixing. This signal unmixing is repeated for each pair of fluorophores. Furthermore, a total of 10 or more fluorophores may be simultaneously used by adding two large stoke's shift fluorophores emitting light in wavelength ranges that does not overlap with the emission spectra of the above 8 fluorophores.

A process for detecting oil or lubricant contamination in a manufactured product, the process comprising adding at least two fluorescent taggants to oils or lubricants contained in processing machinery for said product, irradiating said product, causing at least one of said taggants to fluoresce and detecting radiation emitted by said fluorescing taggant in an oil-contaminated product.

Provided herein are systems and methods for simultaneous imaging and stimulation using a microscope system. The microscope system can have a relatively small size compared to an average microscope system. The microscope can comprise in part an imaging light source and a stimulation light source. Light from the imaging light source and the stimulation light source can be spectrally separated to reduce cross talk between the stimulation light and the imaging light.

Provided are a spectral calibration apparatus and a spectral calibration method capable of performing spectral calibration with high accuracy even when peaks appear simultaneously between fluorescent dyes. The spectral calibration apparatus for calculating a color conversion matrix used in color conversion processing, includes a spectral signal acquisition unit that acquires a spectral signal of fluorescence detected over time, a candidate calculation unit that calculates a candidate of the color conversion matrix for each value of a parameter, which depends on a frequency at which fluorescence peaks of fluorescent dyes appear at the same time, based on the spectral signal, and a selection unit that selects a color conversion matrix based on an evaluation value calculated for each candidate.

This disclosure relates generally to detecting multiple biomarkers on or within a sample, though more specifically, to detecting individual detection moieties within a plurality of detection moieties.

A system for nucleic acid (NA) amplification includes a light source configured to emit a first excitation light based on a control signal, a reaction chamber configured to house a solution including a plurality of first nucleic acids (NAs), the plurality of first NAs being configured to amplify in response to the first excitation light, the solution being configured to emit a second light in response to heating by the first excitation light and to emit a third light in response to amplification of the plurality of first NAs, a detector configured to detect the second and third lights and to generate a temperature signal corresponding to the second light and a first fluorescence signal corresponding to the third light, and a lens module configured to focus the second and third lights onto the detector.

Laser emission based microscope devices and methods of using such devices for detecting laser emissions from a tissue sample are provided. The scanning microscope has first and second reflection surfaces and a scanning cavity holding a stationary tissue sample with at least one fluorophore/lasing energy responsive species. At least a portion of the scanning cavity corresponds to a high quality factor (Q) Fabry-Pérot resonator cavity. A lasing pump source directs energy at the scanning cavity while a detector receives and detects emissions generated by the fluorophore(s) or lasing energy responsive species. The second reflection surface and/or the lasing pump source are translatable with respect to the stationary tissue sample for generating a two-dimensional scan of the tissue sample. Methods for detecting multiplexed emissions or quantifying one or more biomarkers in a histological tissue sample, for example for detection and diagnosis of cancer, or other disorders/diseases are provided.