Quantum-dot antibody conjugation visualized at the single-molecule scale with high-speed atomic force microscopy.

Conjugates of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and antibodies have emerged as a promising bioprobes due to their great combination of QD's efficient fluorescence and the high specificity of antigen-antibody reactions. For further developments in this field, it is essential to understand the molecular conformation of the QD-antibody conjugates at the single-molecule scale. Here, we report on the direct imaging of QD-antibody conjugates at the single-molecule scale by using high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM).

Quantum dot-linked immunosorbent assay (QLISA) using orientation-directed antibodies.

An approach similar to the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), with the advantage of saving time and effort but exhibiting high performance, was developed using orientation-directed half-part antibodies immobilized on CdSe/ZnS quantum dots. ELISA is a widely accepted assay used to detect the presence of a target substance. However, it takes time to quantify the target with specificity and sensitivity owing to signal amplification.

Precise Fractionation of CdSe/ZnS Quantum Dot-Organic-Dye Conjugates Using a Gel Filtration Column.

Conjugates of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and organic dyes have been receiving attention as fluorescence biological sensing materials. In designing such sensors, a most important parameter is the number of organic-dye molecules that conjugate to a QD. If a precise separation method was developed, it might be possible to control conjugation without knowing the exact number of conjugated dye molecules per QD.