In addition, experiments monitoring DNA hybridization demonstrated the potential for this technology in, for example, the detection of medically important errors in DNA sequences.

The paper, titled Submicrometer Metallic Barcodes, describes work done in collaboration by Professors Christine Keating and Michael Natan, and their research groups in the chemistry department at Penn State, and by researchers at SurroMed working under the direction of Natan, who now is Chief Technical Officer there. SurroMed has obtained a broad and exclusive license from Penn State, and has copyrighted the term, NanobarcodesTM particles.

Keating says, These particles represent a fundamentally new way to encode information on the submicron scale, which gives us more options for detection than previous techniques for particle encoding. The particles are easy to synthesize in what promises to be an incredible variety of distinguishable patterns.

This strategy could be a significant improvement over previous approaches, which have relied on combinations of fluorescent dyes for particle identification. In fact, for metallic barcodes it is possible to envision future detection schemes that avoid fluorescence altogether. The particles themselves are quite robust-unlike molecular fluorescent dyes, we have found that the metallic barcode pattern does not degrade even under intense, prolonged illumination.

Natan said, Multiplexing has become a fundamental tenet of life science research. Scientists are no longer content merely to synthesize or measure one or even 100 species at a time. An excellent example is the gene chip, where it is possible to measure 10,000 different genes in parallel at a series of tiny spots on the chip surface. There has been a tremendous need for analogous technologies that operate in solution, an
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Contact: Barbara K. Kennedy
science@psu.edu
814-863-4682
Penn State
4-Oct-2001