Quantum-dot-tagged microbeads for multiplexed optical coding of biomolecules

Multicolor optical coding for biological assays has been achieved by embedding different-sized quantum dots (zinc sulfide–capped cadmium selenide nanocrystals) into polymeric microbeads at precisely controlled ratios. Their novel optical properties (e.g., size-tunable emission and simultaneous excit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature biotechnology 2001-07, Vol.19 (7), p.631-635
Main Authors: Nie, Shuming, Han, Mingyong, Gao, Xiaohu, Su, Jack Z
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Bioinformatics
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology
Biomedicine
biomolecules
Biotechnology
Biotechnology - methods
Cadmium
Cadmium selenide
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA - metabolism
Emissions
Fluorescent Dyes
fluorophores
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gene expression
Genetic Techniques
high-throughput screening
Hybridization
Life Sciences
Medical research
Methods. Procedures. Technologies
microbeads
Microelectromechanical systems
Microscopy, Fluorescence - methods
Nanocrystals
Nucleic Acid Hybridization - methods
Nucleic acids
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis - methods
Oligonucleotides - chemistry
Optical properties
Others
Polymers
Publishing
Quantum dots
Spectrometry, Fluorescence - methods
Sulfides
Various methods and equipments
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Summary:Multicolor optical coding for biological assays has been achieved by embedding different-sized quantum dots (zinc sulfide–capped cadmium selenide nanocrystals) into polymeric microbeads at precisely controlled ratios. Their novel optical properties (e.g., size-tunable emission and simultaneous excitation) render these highly luminescent quantum dots (QDs) ideal fluorophores for wavelength-and-intensity multiplexing. The use of 10 intensity levels and 6 colors could theoretically code one million nucleic acid or protein sequences. Imaging and spectroscopic measurements indicate that the QD-tagged beads are highly uniform and reproducible, yielding bead identification accuracies as high as 99.99% under favorable conditions. DNA hybridization studies demonstrate that the coding and target signals can be simultaneously read at the single-bead level. This spectral coding technology is expected to open new opportunities in gene expression studies, high-throughput screening, and medical diagnostics.
ISSN:1087-0156
1546-1696
DOI:10.1038/90228