Fiber-optic devices for sensing, manipulating, and imaging cells in vitro and in vivo

Over the past few decades, fiber-optic devices have shown remarkable potential for cell analysis. Recently emerged fiber-optic technologies have been successfully applied to sense, manipulate, and image cells in vitro and in vivo. These new technologies not only offer great opportunities to perform sensitive and distributed/multiplexed analysis on cells but also provide a novel and minimally invasive approach to investigate the intercellular and intracellular dynamic events. In this chapter, we focus on the review of fiber-optic-based compact devices and their applications in cell analysis. We first introduce the basic principles of fiber-optic sensing and trapping technologies, followed by a detailed discussion of their applications in bulk-cell analysis, single-cell analysis, and intravital-cell analysis. We then conclude the chapter with a brief summary and outlook.