Fluorescent semiconductor quantum dots, or qdots, also hold promise for high-resolution cellular imaging and the long-term observation of individual molecules and their movement within cells, according to a UCLA-led team of chemistry and biochemistry researchers that includes scientists from Stanford University. The researchers assess this emerging field and highlight two recent advances in the Jan. 28, 2005, issue of the peer-reviewed journal Science.
"Qdots as biological probes have lived up to the hopes of their initial promoters," said the article's senior author, Shimon Weiss, a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher, UCLA professor of chemistry, biochemistry and physiology and a member of the university's California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI). "This paper presents an objective view and perspective of what we can do now and what we may be able to do in the future. Undoubtedly, biologists will catch on to these exciting developments and find as yet unforeseen applications for this new physiology toolkit, enhancing their existing arsenal of imaging tools."
The work outlined in Science is the first result of a new joint effort between UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and the CNSI. The creation of the UCLA Cancer Nanotechnology Partnership signals a long-term commitment and investment into nanotechnology and its applications in cancer research, said Judith C. Gasson, cancer center director.
"The environment at UCLA makes it possible for researchers from diverse disciplines physicists, cell biologists, chemists, immunologists - to work side by side," said Gasson, a professor of medi
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Contact: Kim Irwin
kirwin@mednet.ucla.edu
310-206-2805
University of California - Los Angeles
27-Jan-2005