Shining a Brighter Light

Fluorescence-based detection and imaging techniques are the cornerstone of modern biomedical optics, with applications ranging from the detection and quantification of biological species to the bioimaging of organelles up to organisms. The main drawback – poor sensitivity – can be enhanced by plasmonic nanostructures, but current plasmon-enhanced fluorescence methods cannot be easily integrated with existing biosensing and bioimaging platforms. To that end, we developed a simple and convenient method to exploit plasmon-enhanced fluorescence in various biosensing and bioimaging methods (1).