Power and prospects for studying live cells using semiconductor quantum dots

摘要

The use of quantum dots to study and solve biological issues is bringing scientists and engineers into the realm of pure biology. Yetquantum dots are still a young technology that has not fulfilled all its immense promises. The prospects of using quantum dots inbiology motivates a wealth of different studies that include the targeting of organisms in live cells and the characterization of theoptical properties of the bioconjugates at the single molecule level. Here, I want to review some experiments using silanized quantumdots. In particular, I want to focus on the versatility of silanized quantum dots for bioconjugation and show how they can beprogrammed to target the nucleus of live cells. In parallel, silanized qdots are remarkable chromophores that can be used as FRETsensors. FRET efficiencies up to 100% can be reached by tuning the spectral properties of the donor and acceptor pairs.