16 October 2025 – Ilya OLEVSKO – Nano Bead Emitters: A Versatile Toolkit for Advanced Optical Thin Films

Dr. Ilya OLEVSKO, Bar-Ilan University and BINA Nanocenter

SPPIN’s webinar 2025, 16 October at 10h, SPPIN common room, 3rd floor

Nano Bead Emitters: A Versatile Toolkit for Advanced Optical Thin Films

My seminar will introduce the Nano Bead Emitter (NBE) platform, a highly versatile toolkit for fabricating custom fluorescent thin films. Our approach uses dye-functionalized nanohydrogels to create exceptionally bright, stable, and homogeneous optical layers with a morphology dictated by the size of the precursor hydrogels. The platform’s modularity allows for the use of virtually any dye, which can be deposited or printed with high fidelity onto various substrates.

The versatility of this toolkit will be demonstrated through several applications. We created custom axial calibration standards with specifically chosen dyes to match biological uses and common excitation lines, making them ideal for calibrating a wide range of optical sectioning instruments, including TIRF and confocal microscopes. Our ability to print precise multi-dye patterns and fabricate transparent 3-D multi-layered architectures enables advanced applications, such as modeling complex optical effects and conducting energy transfer studies.

Highlighting the NBEs’ potential for biological research, I will present our latest findings on its biocompatibility, which allows for direct cell culture on NBE films and the use of the particles as internal probes. This work establishes the NBE platform as a powerful and adaptable solution for engineering advanced optical surfaces for both materials science and life science applications.

References

Modular Hydrogel-Based Nano-Bead Emitters for Bright, Homogeneous Fluorescent Thin Films and 3D Architectures, Ilya Olevsko, Maria Shahadeh, Eswaran Lakshmanan, Dmytro Ohorodniichuk, Eti Teblum, Moshe Feldberg, Leonid Weisman, Rotem Golan, Fabrice Licata, Martin Oheim, Gerardo, Byk, Adi Salomon. Advanced Optical Materials, 2025

Salomon lab website : https://www.lab-salomon.com/research-group