Synthesis of Cadmium-Free Quantum Dots for Nanomedicine

Title: "Synthesis of Cadmium-Free Quantum Dots for Nanomedicine"

Monday, April 26, 2010

Presenter

Chai Hoon Quek

Presentation given by Chai Hoon Quek, Ph.D. Candidate from the Pratt School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. 

Abstract: Luminescent semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) show great potential as fluorescent probes for molecular and in vivo imaging. Here we report a green-chemistry, aqueous-based, doped zinc selenide QDs with fluorescence emissions tunable between 650 and 720 nm. Glutathione, which carries both carboxyl and amino groups, serves as the stabilizing ligand and offers the flexibility of decorating the surface of the QDs with moieties such as proteins, peptides and DNA. These QDs emit in the near IR, coinciding with the biological window of transmission to offer high signal-to-noise for study of intracellular trafficking in vitro and bioimaging in vivo.