In Dr. A. Ben-Yakar’s laboratory, microsurgery probe (10×15×40 mm) was developed using femtosecond laser nanotechnology and two-photon fluorescent microscopy. In the future, it can be used as an endoscope allowing to obtain two-photon picture from operation site having 340 nm in diameter. Future development of the metal covered mirrors with enhanced reflection power and objective microlenses will allow to get images of cell autofluorescence. The probe may be used in oncology, dermatology and neurosurgery. The other novel product is a «lab on a chip» microchip that allows to carry out axotomy in Caernorhabditis elegans using femtolaser. After nanocutting of nerve endings innervating moving back (while the ability of moving forward was preserved), functional resroration of the nerve fibers cut was shown using fluorescent proteins for neuron labelling. In the future, development of this method will allow to study the influence of genes and drugs at nerve tissue development and regeneration.
Place of employment — Department of Mechanical Engineering, FemtoLab, University of Texas at Austin), USA.
Contacts — 204 E. Dean Keeton Street, Austin, TX 78705, USA(281) 475-9280ben-yakar@mail.utexas.edu .
Publications — Miniaturized probe for femtosecond laser microsurgery and two-photon imaging. Hoy CL, Durr NJ, Chen P, Piyawattanametha W, Ra H, Solgaard O, Ben-Yakar A. Opt Express. 2008. Femtosecond laser nanoaxotomy lab-on-a-chip for in vivo nerve regeneration studies. S. X. Guo, F. Bourgeois, T. Chokshi, N. Durr, N.J. M. Hilliard, N. Chronis, and A. Ben-Yakar. Na-ture Methods, 2008Functional regeneration after laser axotomy M. F. Yanik, H. Cinar, H. N. Cinar, A. D. Ch-isholm, Y. Jin, A. Ben-Yakar. Nature, 2004, 432, 882.
