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In recent years our laboratory has described the favorable effects of fluorophores in close proximity to metallic
nanostructures (1-6). These include, increased system quantum yields (increased detectability) and much improved
fluorophore photostabilities. These effects have led to many applications of metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF)
including, improved DNA detection (7, 8), enhanced ratiometric sensing (5), metal-enhanced phosphorescence (9) and
chemiluminescence signatures (10), as well as to the development of nano-rod (6), triangular nano-plate (4) and
modified plastic surfaces (1, 3) for their multifarious applications. In all of our applications of MEF to date, we have
been able to significantly optically amplify luminescence based signatures, but have been unable to modify the rates of
the respective biochemical reactions being either studied or utilized, as these are dependent on the usual solution
parameters of temperature, viscosity and their bioaffinity etc.
However, our laboratory has recently shown that low power microwaves, when applied to the metallic nanostructures
which are suitable for MEF, are preferentially heated, rapidly accelerating local biochemical reactions (11).
Subsequently, ultra-fast and ultra-sensitive assays can be realized. We have recently termed the amalgamation of both
MEF with microwave heating as "Microwave-Accelerated Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence (MAMEF)." In this conference
proceeding, we summarize our MAMEF work on ultra-fast and sensitive myoglobin detection for rapid cardiac risk
assessment and DNA detection for bioterrorism applications. In addition we present two new platform technologies,
namely, Microwave-Accelerated Surface Plasmon-Coupled Directional Luminescence (MA-SPCL) for ultra fast assays
using clinical samples and a Microwave-Accelerated Aggregation Assay (MA-AA) technology, for ultra fast solutionbased
nanoparticle aggregation assays.
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