title: Biotags Based on Surface-Enhanced Raman Can Be as Bright as Fluorescence Tags.
abstract: Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a powerful analytical technique that has been proposed as a substitute for fluorescence for biological imaging and detection but is not yet commercially utilized. The reason lies primarily in the lower intensity and poor reproducibility of most metal nanoparticle-based tags as compared to their fluorescence-based counterparts. Here, using a technique that scrupulously preserves the same number of dye molecules in both the SERS and fluorescence measurements, we show that SERS-based biotags (SBTs) with highly reproducible optical properties can be nanoengineered such that their brightness is at least equal to that of fluorescence-based tags.
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California , Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States.
authors: Alessia
authors: A
authors: Pallaoro
authors: Cancer Research Center, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute , 10901 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, United States.
authors: Gary B
authors: GB
authors: Braun
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California , Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Moskovits
keywords: SERS; detection; fluorescence; imaging; silver nanoparticles