Indiana Section of the Society for Applied SpectroscopyIndiana Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy
2000-2001 Seminar Abstracts
LUMINESCENT
QUANTUM DOTS FOR ULTRA
Dr. Shuming Nie
Department
of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405
nie@indiana.edu
Metal
and semiconductor particles on the nanometer scale have unique optical,
electronic, and structural properties that are not available in either isolated
molecules or bulk solids. These
properties are currently under intense study for potential uses in
microelectronics, quantum dot lasers, chemical sensors, data storage, and a host
of other applications. Research in
our group has recently linked luminescent quantum dots (ZnS-capped CdSe) to
biological molecules for ultrasensitive imaging and detection (Chan and Nie,
SCIENCE 281, 2016-2018, 1998). This new class of luminescent labels is 20 times
brighter, 100 times more stable against photobleaching, and 3 times narrower in
spectral linewidth when compared with organic fluorescent dyes. Quantum dots
labeled with the protein transferrin undergo receptor-mediated endocytosis in
cultured HeLa cells, and those dots that were labeled with immunomolecules
recognize specific antibodies or antigens. These quantum-dot bioconjugates are
expected to have a broad range of biological applications such as ligand-receptor
interactions, real-time monitoring of molecular trafficking inside living cells,
multicolor fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH), high-sensitivity detection
in miniaturized devices (e.g., DNA chips), and fluorescent tagging of
combinatorial chemical libraries.
Contact Indiana Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy