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Fig. 1 Synthesis and analysis of bioharmonophores. (a) Schematic of the self-assembling reaction of diphenylalanine peptides (FF) into large-scale nanotube structures from a concentrated solution. (b) Schematic of the emulsion–solvent evaporation method for the synthesis of bioharmonophores. Self-assembling peptides are dissolved in chloroform along with biodegradable poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) and emulsified with the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) using sonication, followed by evaporation of chloroform. (c) SHG signal from diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes aggregated on top of the imaging chamber. Peptide nanotubes were illuminated with a 850 nm pulsed laser. Image composite of multiple stitched images. (d) SHG signal from encapsulated triphenylalanine peptide (FFF) bioharmonophores immobilized in 1% low melting agarose illuminated with 850 nm pulsed laser. (e) TEM image of synthesized FFF-based bioharmonophores showing uniform spherical nanoparticles. (f) DLS data showing the size distribution of synthesized bioharmonophores. Scale bar, 100 μm (c); 10 μm (d); 500 nm (e).