Plasmonic generation in gold-coated TFBGs has been pioneered
in 2006 by the team of Prof. Jacques Albert at the Carleton University
of Ottawa, Canada [8]. Since then, our two research groups
have worked together on the spectral characterization of these
probes that are inherently polarization selective [9–12] and on
their subsequent use for biochemical sensing [13–15]. Up to now,
and to the best of our knowledge, there have been a few reports
where gold-coated TFBGs were associated with cells. In [16], the
probe was used to measure the intracellular density of non-physiological
cells, namely human acute leukemia cells. In [17], the
sensor was integrated into cell culture equipment and was used
for real-time monitoring of cellular response to chemical stimuli
obtained by adjunction of trypsin, serum and sodium azide. The
corresponding effects – detachment of cells from the surface, uptake
of serum and inhibition of cellular metabolism, respectively –
were monitored through a shift of the SPR signature in the
transmitted amplitude spectrum of gold-coated TFBGs.