Library · Signals, sensing & imaging
What Surface Plasmon Resonance got wrong, from 14 theses
Summary written by a model from the records below: Across the records, surface plasmon resonance and related plasmonic biosensing methods frequently encountered obstacles stemming from immobilization difficulties, non-specific surface deposition, and analyte kinetic properties. Investigations also faced operational limits due to substrate scattering background noise, optical distortions, and spectral or polarization mismatches. These records come from graduate theses, 2021 to 2025, each labeled with its degree where the repository states it, and each links to its thesis. They were extracted by language models reading the full text, so treat each as a lead to read, not a verdict.
Plus 10 problems the authors left open, listed at the end.
Failure modes, by theses reporting them
Select a mode to jump to its records.
Analyte characteristics and fast kinetics prevent reliable surface plasmon resonance measurement
Surface plasmon resonance failed or was rejected when analytes exhibited molecular weight mismatches, redox instability, or excessive size and heterogeneity. In addition, rapid association and dissociation rates, multi-site binding, and protein instability prevented robust kinetic fitting and reproducible assay pipelines.
Tried and failed
surface plasmon resonance validation screening applied to RNA-binding protein small molecule interactions. Outcome: unstable. Reason: could not establish robust and reproducible binding assay pipelines for the protein panel
High Throughput Screening for Small Molecule Interactions with Nucleic Acid Binding Proteins · MIT · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected surface plasmon resonance (SPR), ITC, and MST for determining ion binding affinity due to molecular weight mismatch or redox metal instability, proposing DSF instead
Copper A Novel Regulator Of Perk · Penn · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for determining LO1 and LO1Fab binding kinetics because the large size and heterogeneity of MDA-LDL yielded unreliable and inaccurate data; adopted microfluidic diffusional sizing instead.
Anti-oxidised low-density lipoprotein antibodies and antibody fragment targeted nanoparticles for the translational study of atherosclerosis · Imperial · PhD
Tried and failed
surface plasmon resonance binding affinity modeling applied to fragment library screening on structured RNA. Outcome: did not converge. Reason: complex multi-site binding and solubility limits prevented reaching surface saturation needed for kinetic fitting
Can In-Silico Computational Virtual Screening of Fragment Libraries Model In-Vitro Biophysical Screening Methods with Similar Results to Identify Novel RNA-Binding Chemical Matter · Harvard · Master's
Tried and failed
surface plasmon resonance kinetic fitting applied to fast-exchanging protein-protein interactions. Reason: association and dissociation rates were too fast to be resolved within instrument temporal limits
CHARACTERIZING THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF ADAPTIVE IMMUNE PROTEINS TO INFORM IMMUNOTHERAPY DESIGN · Penn · PhD
Surface functionalization and immobilization difficulties hinder sensor preparation
Direct physisorption, polymer coatings, and amine coupling failed to achieve sufficient binding density, stable immobilization, or concentration-dependent plasmonic shifts. Sensor performance was further degraded by the absence of specific capture ligands or by severe protein aggregation and irreversible non-specific deposition.
Tried and failed
direct protein physisorption onto sensor surface applied to optical biosensing transducers. Outcome: no signal. Reason: insufficient surface binding density or low refractive index contrast prevents measurable optical resonance shifts
All-Dielectric Nanophotonic via Glass Fluid Instabilities · EPFL · PhD
Tried and failed
responsive polymer shell coating for plasmonic biosensing applied to protein detection via LSPR shifts. Outcome: no signal. Reason: Target protein binding caused no concentration-dependent localized surface plasmon resonance wavelength shifts across various polymerizations
Impact of synthesis technique and compositon of polymer coatings for semiselective gold nanoshell-based biosensors · UT Austin · PhD
Tried and failed
plasmonic biosensing without specific capture ligands applied to single-cell secretion detection. Outcome: no signal. Reason: lack of affinity capture ligands prevents target analyte accumulation on the sensor surface
Multimodal Imaging Platform for Spatiotemporal Interrogation of Dynamics in Single Cells and Spheroids · EPFL · PhD
Tried and failed
surface plasmon resonance and quartz crystal microbalance applied to protein binding and unbinding kinetics. Reason: severe protein aggregation and irreversible non-specific deposition formed thick layers on the sensor surface
Biophysical Dynamics Of Rgs-Lov Proteins As Systems For Light-Induced Membrane Recruitment · Penn · PhD
Tried and failed
amine coupling surface plasmon resonance immobilisation applied to recombinant protein on sensor chip. Reason: protein failed to immobilise under standard low pH sodium acetate buffer conditions
Targeting anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 single-domain antibodies to the tumour microenvironment via matrix metalloproteinase activity · Imperial · PhD
Substrate roughness and scattering interference disrupt single-particle plasmonic detection
Dark-field single-particle plasmonic sensing failed or was rejected because substrate surface roughness produced background scattering that overwhelmed nanoparticle signals. In addition, coherent interference and antenna scattering distorted optical point spread functions, resulting in severe localization errors.
Tried and failed
dark-field plasmonic scattering detection applied to single biological nanoparticle sensing. Outcome: no signal. Reason: Substrate surface roughness scattering background equals or exceeds the scattering intensity of single nanoparticles.
Random scattering of surface plasmons for sensing and tracking · Imperial · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected dark-field plasmonic single-particle sensing due to requirement of unrealistic sub-angstrom (<0.1 nm) surface roughness to suppress background scattering below particle scattering.
Random scattering of surface plasmons for sensing and tracking · Imperial · PhD
Spectral, polarization, or modal mismatches diminish plasmonic resonance enhancement
Plasmonic systems exhibited negligible energy transfer or lacked resonance enhancement when nanoparticle spectra did not overlap with acceptor resonances or when excitation polarization was orthogonal to the nanostructure axis. Furthermore, overlapping localized surface plasmon resonance modes prevented the deconvolution of independent geometric sources of spectral broadening.
Lost to a baseline
AuNP@CuFeS2 showed negligible direct energy transfer compared to AgNP@CuFeS2 due to poor spectral overlap with CuFeS2 quasistatic resonance (460-510 nm vs Au LSPR at ~530-550 nm)
Fabrication and excitation transfer investigation of chalcopyrite nanocrystals-gold nanoparticle hybrid structures · Boston University · Master's
Tried and failed
Orthogonal polarization excitation in surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy applied to protein monolayer absorption detection. Outcome: no signal. Reason: Lack of plasmonic resonance enhancement when electric field polarization is perpendicular to nanorod long axis
Tried and failed
spectral peak broadening for geometric deconvolution applied to branched nanoparticle morphology characterisation. Outcome: no signal. Reason: overlapping localized surface plasmon resonance modes prevented distinguishing independent geometric sources of broadness
Relating gold nanostar shape to function: a study on the applicability of nanostars for photothermal therapy and cellular uptake · Imperial · PhD
Left open by the authors
Problems the authors named and did not get to.
Left open
Optimize surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay conditions, including buffer systems and regeneration protocols, to measure KD values for small-molecule PD-L1 candidates. Blocker: Requires a wet biochemistry lab and an SPR instrument (e.g., Biacore) with access to PD-L1 protein and small-molecule compounds.
The development and evaluation of PET imaging agents targeting PD-L1 · Imperial · PhD
Left open
Identify additional hits from antibody libraries and characterize full IgG binding affinity using surface plasmon resonance. Blocker: Requires wet lab facilities, surface plasmon resonance equipment, and physical antibody libraries/samples
ENGINEERING THE HUMORAL RESPONSE TO GENERATE ANTIGEN-SPECIFIC ANTIBODIES · Cornell · PhD
Left open
Assess antibody affinity and somatically hypermutated clones using surface plasmon resonance and B-cell sequencing instead of ELISA titers. Blocker: Requires a wet lab, animal/patient samples, surface plasmon resonance apparatus, and B-cell sequencing facilities.
Mesoporous Silica Rods Scaffolds for the generation of adaptive immune responses · Harvard · PhD
Left open
Validate binding affinity of ambiguous or fluorescence-quenching MST hit compounds against G9a using surface plasmon resonance assays. Blocker: Requires a wet lab, surface plasmon resonance instrumentation, purified recombinant G9a protein, and physical compound samples
Development and evaluation of potential co-factor competitive inhibitors for the histone lysine methyltransferase G9a · Imperial · PhD
Left open
Develop an s-SNOM simulation model incorporating direct tip-sample dipole interactions to reproduce near-field phase maps of coupled plasmonic resonators. Blocker: None
Enhanced infrared sensing with plasmonic metasurfaces and undetected light · Imperial · PhD
Left open
Develop surface functionalization and capping strategies for plasmonic metal nitride nanoparticles to improve colloidal stability and solvent dispersion. Blocker: Requires wet-lab chemical synthesis, specialized reagents, and experimental characterization apparatus.
SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION, AND PHOTOTHERMAL PROPERTIES OF PLASMONIC METAL NITRIDE NANOPARTICLES · Dalhousie · PhD
Left open
Measure binding kinetics of FP-specific monoclonal antibodies to pre-fusion versus post-fusion spike conformations using surface plasmon resonance or biolayer interferometry. Blocker: Requires a wet lab, recombinant spike proteins (pre- and post-fusion), physical mAb samples, and biophysical instrumentation.
Fantastic B-Cells and Where to Find Them · Harvard · PhD
Left open
Optimize and repeat surface plasmon resonance (SPR) binding kinetics measurements between knuckle peptides and BMP receptors. Blocker: Requires wet lab access, an SPR instrument, synthesized knuckle peptides, and purified BMP receptors
Design considerations of BMP-2 mimicking peptide immobilized scaffolds for use in bone tissue engineering · Imperial · PhD
Left open
Separate nonreorientable SHE-like torques from interface-driven spin-orbit precession effects having identical angular signatures in STFMR trilayer measurements. Blocker: Requires nanofabrication facilities, spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (STFMR) hardware, and physical experimental samples
GENERATION OF SPIN CURRENTS IN FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS · Cornell · PhD
Left open
Simulate and compute hybridized states and electron transfer modes for gold nanostar plasmon-induced chemistry. Blocker: Lacks specific computational methodology, target models, and precise parameters
Hot electron induced chemistry on gold nanostars · Imperial · PhD
Who has worked on this
Authors of the public theses cited on this page, most-cited first.
- Joel Andrew Berk · Imperial · PhD · 2021
Random scattering of surface plasmons for sensing and tracking - Toby Severs Millard · Imperial · PhD · 2025
Enhanced infrared sensing with plasmonic metasurfaces and undetected light - Alexander Luis Roederer · Harvard · PhD · 2025
Fantastic B-Cells and Where to Find Them - Claire Woodward · Penn · PhD · 2025
CHARACTERIZING THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF ADAPTIVE IMMUNE PROTEINS TO INFORM IMMUNOTHERAPY DESIGN - Saeid Ansaryan · EPFL · PhD · 2025
Multimodal Imaging Platform for Spatiotemporal Interrogation of Dynamics in Single Cells and Spheroids - Timothy Lou · Boston University · Master's · 2025
Fabrication and excitation transfer investigation of chalcopyrite nanocrystals-gold nanoparticle hybrid structures - Deepthy Kavungal · EPFL · PhD · 2025
Nanoplasmonic infrared biosensors enabling detection of misfolded protein biomarkers and drug screening for neurodegenerative diseases - Adam Hartley · Imperial · PhD · 2024
Anti-oxidised low-density lipoprotein antibodies and antibody fragment targeted nanoparticles for the translational study of atherosclerosis - Elliot James MacLeod · Imperial · PhD · 2024
Targeting anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 single-domain antibodies to the tumour microenvironment via matrix metalloproteinase activity - Pierre-Luc Eloi Piveteau · EPFL · PhD · 2024
All-Dielectric Nanophotonic via Glass Fluid Instabilities - Gitanjali Sharma · Imperial · PhD · 2023
The development and evaluation of PET imaging agents targeting PD-L1 - William Morton · Imperial · PhD · 2023
Relating gold nanostar shape to function: a study on the applicability of nanostars for photothermal therapy and cellular uptake
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