NANHEMO · Nanobiosensors for Health Monitoring
FP7 — People (Marie Curie Actions)
- Duration
- 2008-08-25 → 2010-08-24
- EU contribution
- €30,000
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MC-ERG
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Results in brief
Nanobiosensors for Health Monitoring
The main goal of this research is the synthesis of water soluble core-shell CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) and their suitability in biosensing using an electrochemiluminescence-based detection method. Water soluble QDs have been synthesized using the ligand exchange method. We synthesized dimethylaminoethanethiol (DAET)-capped CdSe/ZnS QDs from CdSe/ZnS Lumidots® in toluene. DAET/CdSe/Zns QDs showed an emission peak (see Fig. 1) maximum at 670 nm which corresponds to a particle size of 6.3 nm (dark red emission). DAET ligand is used as a surfactant which renders the CdSe/ZnS QDs water soluble. The ligand on the surface of a quantum dot prevents aggregation of individual particles. A ligand exchange phase transfer method allowed changing the original hydrophobic ligand (TOPO) with the hydrophilic ligand on the surface of the quantum dots. Because DAET QDs are positively charged, they have been incorporated within negatively charged Nafion polymer. A major drawback of ligand exchange reactions is that they are commonly accompanied by a significant decrease in quantum yield. The quantum yield typically drops down in a range between 1%-25%, depending on the quantum yield before the ligand exchange. The quantum yield for the DAET-QD emission is determined to be less than 5% (Rhodamine 6G as reference).
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The drive to understand biology and medicine at the molecular level with accurate quantitation demands much of current high-throughput analysis systems. Nanomaterials and nanotechnology combined with modern instrumentation have the potential to address this emerging challenge. Using a variety of nanomaterials for multiplex diagnostics and imaging applications will offer sensitive, rapid and cost-effective solutions for the modern clinical laboratory. New nanomaterials, i.e., metallic nanoparticles labelled with plasmonically enhanced fluorescent metal complexes, will be developed to achieve optical-encoding capabilities for selective tagging of a wide range of medically important targets, including bacteria, cancer cells and individual molecules, such as proteins and DNA, in a single assay. We envision further development in this field will provide numerous advanced tools with increased sensitivity and improved multiplexing capability, for unique applications in molecular biology, genomics and drug discovery. To achieve these ambitious goals will require the synthesis of a variety of luminescent and redox active metal complexes, nanoparticles and polyelectrolytes for encapsulation. It should be noted that the basic science proposed in this application will lead to a “platform” technology finding diverse applications in areas such as new forms of renewable energies (hydrogen storage for fuel cells), display devices and sensors for individual analytes.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY · DublinCoordinatorIreland
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union