Upconversion Nanoparticle-Based Förster Resonance Energy Transfer for Detecting DNA Methylation.

Aberrant methylation of a crucial CpG island is the main mechanism for the inactivation of CDKN2A in the early stages of carcinogenesis. Therefore, the detection of DNA methylation with high sensitivity and specificity is important, and various detection methods have been developed. Recently, upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have been found to display a high signal-to-noise ratio and no photobleaching, making them useful for diagnostic applications.

Upconversion nanoparticle-based Förster resonance energy transfer for detecting the IS6110 sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in sputum.

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which are excited at near-infrared wavelength (980 nm), emit high-energy photons. Since UCNPs display a high signal-to-noise ratio and no photobleaching, they are extremely useful for diagnostic application. In this study, we applied UCNPs for detecting the IS6110 sequence of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) and evaluated the feasibility of the system for use in molecular diagnostics.

Effects of upconversion nanoparticles on polymerase chain reaction.

Nanoparticles (NPs) are attractive materials owing to their physical and electrochemical properties, which make them extremely useful in diagnostic applications. Photon upconversion is the phenomenon where high-energy photons are emitted upon excitation of low-energy photons. Nucleic acids detection based on upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which display a high signal-to-noise ratio and no photobleaching, has been widely applied.