Super Robust Nanoparticles for Biology and Biomedicine

摘要

N anoscience has had an impact on almost every branch of natural science,in particular materials science,chemistry,physics,biology,and medicine.Some of the significant and most promising applications of inorganic nanoparticles lie in the fields of biology and biomedicine,for example,by using nanoparticles as labels for DNA and protein detection,as probes for magnetic resonance imaging and dynamics studies in biological systems,as well as tracers for the localization of marker proteins.A major issue with the development of inorganic nanoparticles for biological applications pertains to the stability of bio-functionalized nanoparticles in biological media.This has a direct impact on the sensitivity,selectivity,and nonspecific properties of all nanoparticle-based biosensors.Previous work on gold nanoparticles functionalized with thiolated DNA constitutes a milestone in the development of robust nanoparticles for biology.Recently,Cao and co-workers reported a further improvement in particle stability,which constitutes a new promising advance.