Detection of Radio Frequency and Magnetic Field Bioeffects in Living Cells

Radio frequency communications and sensors are everywhere in both personal and military life. RF fields are also used in some medical therapies. However, little is known about the medical effects that result from the routine exposure of tissue to RF fields. To understand such effects, new instrumentation is needed that can quantify the RF radiation amplitude with spatial resolution comparable to the size of biological structures such as cells. This Phase I STTR project will investigate a method of quantifying the amplitude of radio frequency fields in biological samples. Our approach is based on measuring resonance signals from nitrogen-vacancy-doped diamonds. To minimize the impact of the probe on the system to be measured, the design uses only materials that are electrically and biologically inert, and the mass of the material is kept small. We envision two device designs: one consisting of a diamond microscope slide probed from below, the other an optical fiber that can be inserted into a larger sample, such as a tissue phantom. The Phase I research will focus on showing that NV diamonds can be used to make quantitative measurements of field amplitudes, and to define the range of fields over which it can operate.