{"id":17314,"date":"2020-01-26T06:21:42","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T06:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=17314"},"modified":"2020-06-09T12:11:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T12:11:58","slug":"quest-for-perfect-quantum-dot-biomarkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/quest-for-perfect-quantum-dot-biomarkers\/","title":{"rendered":"Quest for perfect quantum dot biomarkers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tiny nanoparticles can illuminate tissues and cells, but safer, more effective materials are needed before their mainstream application. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The race is on to develop perfect quantum\u00a0dots for looking inside cells and living\u00a0tissues. These tiny, nanosized particles\u00a0made from semiconductor materials fluoresce\u00a0when exposed to light. This property\u00a0makes them attractive for a variety of\u00a0applications, including\u00a0LED displays and solar\u00a0cells. But for biological\u00a0imaging, researchers\u00a0still need to develop\u00a0non-toxic quantum\u00a0dots that can shine\u00a0brightly deep inside\u00a0tissues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quantum dots have\u00a0been investigated for\u00a0tagging tissues since\u00a01998, but in vivo deep-tissue imaging is\u00a0\u201cstill extremely limited, due to their toxicity\u00a0to the environment and the human\u00a0body,\u201d says Naoto Shirahata, a chemist\u00a0at Japan\u2019s National Institute for Materials\u00a0Science (NIMS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shirahata and Shanmugavel Chinnathambi,\u00a0a research fellow at the\u00a0NIMS International Center for Young\u00a0Scientists, analysed the latest advancements\u00a0in quantum dot biomarkers for\u00a0the journal\u00a0Science and Technology of\u00a0Advanced Materials<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Near-infrared-emitting quantum dots\u00a0made from cadmium, selenide, mercury,\u00a0tellurium and lead exhibit bright luminescence,\u00a0but their toxicity is a major drawback.\u00a0Scientists have tried to overcome\u00a0this problem by coating quantum dots\u00a0made from these materials with a protective,\u00a0non-toxic shell, yet the results\u00a0were unsatisfactory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silicon quantum dots, on the other hand,\u00a0are non-toxic even at high concentrations,\u00a0and have good tissue penetration under\u00a0certain conditions. Scientists think they\u00a0can improve this material by modifying\u00a0its surface chemistry for highly selective\u00a0tumour targeting. Germanium quantum\u00a0dots are also interesting non-toxic candidates,\u00a0but their emission is still too faint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shirahata, Shanmugavel and their colleagues\u00a0are striving to improve the optical\u00a0performance of non-toxic quantum\u00a0dots. They are testing surface chemistry\u00a0modifications to better target specific\u00a0cells in the body. They also want to find\u00a0ways to improve the body\u2019s ability to\u00a0safely metabolize quantum dots after\u00a0their job is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSilicon quantum dots in particular are\u00a0promising,\u201d says Shirahata, \u201cbecause they\u00a0are safe and can be metabolized with the\u00a0urea cycle in the liver and the kidney.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Tiny nanoparticles can illuminate tissues and cells, but safer, more effective materials are needed before their mainstream application. The race is on to develop perfect quantum\u00a0dots for looking inside cells and living\u00a0tissues. These tiny, nanosized particles\u00a0made from semiconductor materials fluoresce\u00a0when exposed to light. This property\u00a0makes them attractive for a variety of\u00a0applications, including\u00a0LED displays and solar\u00a0cells. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers.jpg",1140,676,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers-200x200.jpg",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers-300x178.jpg",300,178,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers-768x455.jpg",750,444,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers-1024x607.jpg",750,445,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers.jpg",1140,676,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers.jpg",1140,676,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers.jpg",1140,676,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers.jpg",870,516,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers.jpg",600,356,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers.jpg",600,356,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers-760x490.jpg",760,490,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers-550x360.jpg",550,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers-95x65.jpg",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers.jpg",640,380,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers.jpg",96,57,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/P_Quantum-Dot-Biomarker-Researchers.jpg",150,89,false]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}