Some concerns remain about the toxicity and other properties, said Hwang, but of the whole, our results indicate that quantum dots can be a valuable tool for studying dynamic cellular processes.A joint research group, working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has discovered a method of using nanoparticles to illuminate the inside cells to reveal a slow process. Nanoparticles, thousands of times smaller than a cell, have a variety of applications. A type of nanoparticles called quantum dot glows when exposed to light. These semiconductor particles can be coated with organic materials, which are adapted to be attracted to specific proteins inside a cell of a scientist wants to examine.
If you look at the complex processes in a living cell, it is easy to miss something important – especially if you look at the changes that take a long time to implement and require imaging with high spatial resolution. * But the new research to check the activities that occur during the hours or even days inside cells, which could solve many mysteries associated with molecular events in these tiny creatures.
Quantum dots last longer than many organic dyes and fluorescent proteins that we previously used to illuminate the interior of cells, says biophysicist Jeeseong Hwang, who led the NIST team on hand. They have the advantage of monitoring changes in cellular processes, and techniques such as high-resolution electron microscopy only provide images of cellular processes frozen at a time. Using quantum dots, we can now explain the cellular processes that involve dynamic movements of proteins .
The efforts of the team has revealed that the group of membrane proteins, quantum dots, they are induced to cluster themselves and shine more brightly, allowing scientists to observe that the group of proteins is progressing. More generally, the team found that when the quantum dots of joining with other nanomaterials, optical switching properties of the points’ in each case. They also found evidence that the optical properties of quantum points are modified as the environment changes at the nanoscale, providing a greater possibility of using quantum dots in the sense of local biochemical environment in the cells.