title: Characterization of the functional binding properties of antibody conjugated quantum dots.
abstract: Antibody conjugated quantum dots are an emerging technology for high-resolution labeling of biological systems. In this work we determined the number of functional antibodies (i.e., antibodies that are sterically available for functional binding to target proteins) conjugated to semiconductor quantum dots. This is critical for the interpretation of biological data labeled with these methods. We found that the number of available functional antibodies varied significantly for different conjugation methods and are lower than previously estimated. These results may suggest potential strategies for improving quantum dot labeling of biological preparations.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Graduate Program, Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037-0946, USA.
authors.forename: Smita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pathak
authors.forename: Marie C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Gabriel A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Silva
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000502:physiology*; D011485:Protein Binding; D045663:Quantum Dots
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies