Luminescent nanoparticles for molecular medicine

Abstract

Novel optical labels based on nanophosphor materials like LaPO 4:Ce,Tb and CePO4:Tb-LaPO4 core-shell nanophosphors were presented. Core particles could be synthesised smaller than 10nm and stabilized in aqueous media. Polymer coatings of individual nanoparticles increased long term stability and introduced functional groups of interest for bioconjugation chemistry. A new strategy for conjugation of bioligands via His-tags was given. In feasibility studies for in-vitro diagnostic applications these dnanophosphors featured their advantage over organic dyes. As an example the detection of hybridization and thermal induced denaturation events of DNA strands read out by FRET processes was presented. © 2007 SPIE-OSA.