Sponsor: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic
Coordinator: Eva Zažímalová, Ph.D.
Co-principal investigators: Břetislav Brzobohatý, Ph.D.; Ivan Kašík, Ph.D.; Prof. Zdeněk Opatrný, Ph.D.; Olga Valentová, Ph.D.
Members: Jan Aubrecht, Ph.D.; Ivo Bartoň, MSc.; Zbyněk Berka, Ph.D.; Vlasta Kalošová; Tomáš Martan, Ph.D.; Vlastimil Matějec, Ph.D.; Jan Mrázek, Ph.D.; Ondřej Podrazký, Ph.D.; Marie Pospíšilová, Ph.D.; Miroslav Seidl
From: 2006-01-01
To: 2011-12-31
Miniaturization and application of advanced engineering principles on natural objects belong to the hottest trends of modern science and technology. Understanding of processes, their dynamics and gradients in microscopic samples of plant or animal origin push the limits of fundamental knowledge of the nature further. The research of fiber-optic sensors is a proper answer to today´s calls. Therefore, special attention has been focused on local detection of pH by the use of fiber-optic probes which are only several micrometers in size. The elaborated method, which is based on ratiometric fluorescence principle, make it possible for in vivo determination of pH with the resolution of ~0.1 pH unit during several seconds within a biological range of pH from 5.5 to 7.5. It allows minimum invasive monitoring of natural living samples (droplets, tissues, embryos, body liquids) of small volumes with the minimum resolution of individual cells. A laboratory setup was constructed the method was tested on a process which focused on the characterization of microscopic hair roots of Arabidopsis thaliana. Unique results important for plant nutrition and agriculture production were achieved by joining effort of researchers from the Institute of Photonics and Electronics ASCR and the Institute of Experimental Botany in outstanding collaboration with Safibra Ltd.
Document for download here (in Czech)
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