Semiconductor nanocrystals for biological imaging.
Conventional organic fluorophores suffer from poor photo stability, narrow absorption spectra and broad emission spectra. Semiconductor nanocrystals, however, are highly photo-stable with broad absorption spectra and narrow size-tunable emission spectra. Recent advances in the synthesis of these materials have resulted in the generation of bright, sensitive, extremely photo-stable and biocompatible semiconductor fluorophores. Commercial availability facilitates their application in a variety of unprecedented biological experiments, including multiplexed cellular imaging, long-term in vitro and in vivo labeling, deep tissue structure mapping and single particle investigation of dynamic cellular processes. Semiconductor nanocrystals are one of the first examples of nanotechnology enabling a new class of biomedical applications.
Fu
Aihua
A
Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Gu
Weiwei
W
Larabell
Carolyn
C
Alivisatos
A Paul
AP
D000818:Animals; D003460:Crystallization; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D045663:Quantum Dots; D012666:Semiconductors