Subcellular surgery and nanosurgery

Gene therapy is the use of DNA as an agent to cure or slow down the progression of a disease. A crucial requirement for gene therapy is the efficient and safe introduction of genetic vectors into mammalian cells. We developed a high-efficiency, low-toxicity, spatially-selective and high-throughput transfection method using fs laser induced-plasmons on a nanostructured substrate. We specifically compare two designs of plasmonic substrates (whole pyramid arrays and tipless pyramid arrays) using FDTD simulations and microbubble experiments. We then explore the laser parameter space to optimize large scale transfection using selected nanostrucred substrates.