Nucleic acid sensing is crucial for advancing diagnostics, therapeutic monitoring and molecular biology research, by enabling the precise identification of DNA and RNA interactions. Here, we present an innovative sensing platform based on DNA-functionalized whispering gallery mode (WGM) microlasers. By correlating spectral shifts in laser emission to changes in refractive index, we demonstrate real-time detection of DNA hybridization and structural changes. The addition of gold nanoparticles to the DNA strands significantly enhances sensitivity, and labelling exclusively the sensing strand or a hairpin strand eliminates the need for secondary labelling of the target strand. We further show that ionic strength influences DNA compactness, and we introduce a hairpin-based system as a dual-purpose sensor and con-trolled release mechanism for potential drug delivery. This versatile WGM-based platform offers promise for sequence-specific nucleic acid sensing, multiplexed detection, and in vivo applications in diagnostics and cellular research.
This dataset includes the data from Figures 1-5 of the associated paper. It is organised into folders by figure number for easy navigation, with filenames indicating the corresponding figure and identifying letters (e.g., a, b, c, d). For details on how the data was collected refer to publication and its supplementary information.