Heavy metal pollution is one of the most serious environmental problems, which undermines global sustainability. Many efforts have been made to develop portable sensors for monitoring heavy metals in the environment. Incorporation of nanomaterials and nanostructures into sensors leads to significant improvement in the performance of devices in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, multiplexed detection capability and portability. In addition, small molecules, DNA, proteins and bacteria have been integrated with inorganic materials to selectively bind heavy metals as the molecular recognition probes. This review presents a recent advance in optical, electrochemical and field-effect transistor sensors for heavy metal detection. The optical sensors are focused on colorimetric, fluorescent, surface-enhanced Raman scattering and surface plasmon resonance devices. In addition, optofluidic devices which integrate optical components with microfluidic chips are discussed. Furthermore, nanoparticle-modified electrodes, microelectrode (or nanoelectrode) arrays and microfluidic electrochemical sensors are summarized. This paper highlights the strategies for design of nanostructured sensors and the benefits from the use of nanomaterials and nanostructures.

Rapid profiling of stress-response at single-cell resolution yet in a label-free, non-disruptive and mechanism-specific manner can lead to many new applications. We propose a single-cell-level biochemical fingerprinting approach named “ramanome”, which is the collection of Single-cell Raman Spectra (SCRS) from a number of cells randomly selected from an isogenic population at a given time and condition, to rapidly and quantitatively detect and characterize stress responses of cellular population. SCRS of Escherichia coli cells are sensitive to both exposure time (eight time points) and dosage (six doses) of ethanol, with detection time as early as 5 min and discrimination rate of either factor over 80%. Moreover, the ramanomes upon six chemical compounds from three categories, including antibiotics of ampicillin and kanamycin, alcohols of ethanol and n-butanol and heavy metals of Cu2+ and Cr6+, were analyzed and 31 marker Raman bands were revealed which distinguish stress-responses via cytotoxicity mechanism and variation of inter-cellular heterogeneity. Furthermore, specificity, reproducibility and mechanistic basis of ramanome were validated by tracking stress-induced dynamics of metabolites and by contrasting between cells with and without genes that convey stress resistance. Thus ramanome enables rapid prediction and mechanism-based screening of cytotoxicity and stress-response programs at single-cell resolution.

It is of great significance to understand CO fixation in the oceans. Using single cell Raman spectra (SCRS) as biochemical profiles, Raman activated cell ejection (RACE) was able to link phenotypes and genotypes of cells. Here, we show that mini-metagenomic sequences from RACE can be used as a reference to reconstruct nearly complete genomes of key functional bacteria by binning shotgun metagenomic sequencing data. By applying this approach to C bicarbonate spiked seawater from euphotic zone of the Yellow Sea of China, the dominant bacteria Synechococcus spp. and Pelagibacter spp. were revealed and both of them contain carotenoid and were able to incorporate C into the cells at the same time. Genetic analysis of the reconstructed genomes suggests that both Synechococcus spp. and Pelagibacter spp. contained all genes necessary for carotenoid synthesis, light energy harvesting and CO fixation. Interestingly, the reconstructed genome indicates that Pelagibacter spp. harbored intact sets of genes for β-carotene (precursor of retional), proteorhodopsin synthesis and anaplerotic CO fixation. This novel approach shines light on the role of marine 'microbial dark matter' in global carbon cycling, by linking yet-to-be-cultured Synechococcus spp. and Pelagibacter spp. to carbon fixation and flow activities in situ.

Wider application of single-cell analysis has been limited by the lack of an easy-to-use and low-cost strategy for single-cell isolation that can be directly coupled to single-cell sequencing and single-cell cultivation, especially for small-size microbes. Herein, a facile droplet microfluidic platform was developed to dispense individual microbial cells into conventional standard containers for downstream analysis. Functional parts for cell encapsulation, droplet inspection and sorting, as well as a chip-to-tube capillary interface were integrated on one single chip with simple architecture, and control of the droplet sorting was achieved by a low-cost solenoid microvalve. Using microalgal and yeast cells as models, single-cell isolation success rate of over 90% and single-cell cultivation success rate of 80% were demonstrated. We further showed that the individual cells isolated can be used in high-quality DNA and RNA analyses at both gene-specific and whole-genome levels (i.e. real-time quantitative PCR and genome sequencing). The simplicity and reliability of the method should improve accessibility of single-cell analysis and facilitate its wider application in microbiology researches.

An immunoassay has been developed for the detection of the ovarian cancer biomarker CA-125 by utilizing the chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer to graphene quantum dots. This biosensor shows a wide linear range from 0.1 U mL(-1) to 600 U mL(-1) with a limit of detection of 0.05 U mL(-1) for CA-125 in a buffer solution.

Raman-activated cell sorting (RACS) is a promising single-cell analysis technology that is able to identify and isolate individual cells of targeted type, state or environment from an isogenic population or complex consortium of cells, in a label-free and non-invasive manner. However, compared with those widely used yet labeling-required or staining-dependent cell sorting technologies such as FACS and MACS, the weak Raman signal greatly limits the further development of the existing RACS systems to achieve higher throughput. Strategies that can tackle this bottleneck include, first, improvement of Raman-acquisition efficiency and quality based on advanced Raman spectrometers and enhanced Raman techniques; second, development of novel microfluidic devices for cell sorting followed by integration into a complete RACS system. Exploiting these strategies, prototypes for a new generation of RACS have been demonstrated, such as flow-based OT-RACS, DEP-RACS, and SERS/CARS flow cytometry. Such high-throughput microfluidic RACS can provide biologists with a powerful single-cell analysis tool to explore the scientific questions or applications that have been beyond the reach of FACS and MACS.

Given their extremely small size and light weight, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be readily inhaled by human lungs resulting in increased rates of pulmonary disorders, particularly fibrosis. Although the fibrogenic potential of CNTs is well established, there is a lack of consensus regarding the contribution of physicochemical attributes of CNTs on the underlying fibrotic outcome. We designed an experimentally validated in vitro fibroblast culture model aimed at investigating the effect of fiber length on single-walled CNT (SWCNT)-induced pulmonary fibrosis. The fibrogenic response to short and long SWCNTs was assessed via oxidative stress generation, collagen expression and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) production as potential fibrosis biomarkers. Long SWCNTs were significantly more potent than short SWCNTs in terms of reactive oxygen species (ROS) response, collagen production and TGF-β release. Furthermore, our finding on the length-dependent in vitro fibrogenic response was validated by the in vivo lung fibrosis outcome, thus supporting the predictive value of the in vitro model. Our results also demonstrated the key role of ROS in SWCNT-induced collagen expression and TGF-β activation, indicating the potential mechanisms of length-dependent SWCNT-induced fibrosis. Together, our study provides new evidence for the role of fiber length in SWCNT-induced lung fibrosis and offers a rapid cell-based assay for fibrogenicity testing of nanomaterials with the ability to predict pulmonary fibrogenic response in vivo.

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