Probing Dynamic Fluorescence Properties of Single and Clustered Quantum Dots Towards Quantitative Biomedical Imaging of Cells

Published

October 28, 2009

Author(s)

Hyeong G. Kang, Fuyuki Tokumasu, Matthew L. Clarke, Zhenping Zhou, Jianyong Tang, Tinh Nguyen, Jeeseong Hwang

Abstract

We present results on dynamical fluorescence properties of bioconjugated nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) in different chemical and physical environments. A variety of QD samples were prepared and compared: isolated individual QDs, QDs aggregated into clusters, and QDs conjugated to other nanoscale materials such as single walled carbon nanotubes and proteins in the plasma membrane of human erythrocytes. We discuss plausible scenarios to explain the results obtained for the fluorescence characteristics of QDs in these samples especially for the excitation time dependent fluorescence emission from clustered QDs. We also qualitatively demonstrate enhanced fluorescence emission signal from clustered QDs and deduce that the band 3 membrane proteins in erythrocyte membranes are clustered. This approach is promising for the development of QD-based quantitative molecular imaging techniques for biomedical studies involving clustering of biomolecules.

Citation

Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology

Volume

2

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Quantum dot, Nano-assembly, Fluorescent nanoparticle, Protein oligomerization, Cell imaging

Citation

Kang, H. , Tokumasu, F. , Clarke, M. , Zhou, Z. , Tang, J. , Nguyen, T. and Hwang, J. (2009), Probing Dynamic Fluorescence Properties of Single and Clustered Quantum Dots Towards Quantitative Biomedical Imaging of Cells, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=902907 (Accessed October 8, 2025)