Bioconjugated quantum dots as fluorescent probes for biomedical imaging.

Luminescent semiconductor quantum dots have become an important class of fluorescent labels for biological and biomedical imaging. In comparison with conventional organic dyes and fluorescent proteins, quantum dots have extraordinary fluorescent properties including high brightness, high resistance to photobleaching and tunable wavelengths. In this review, we briefly discuss the properties and modification of quantum dots. We focus on the applications of quantum dots in biomedical imaging, including molecular detection, live cell imaging and in vivo imaging. The toxicity of the quantum dots to cells and animals is also discussed.