IEC 220 |
| Joong, H Kim, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, Bourns Hall, Dept. of CEE, Riverside, CA 92521 and Mihri Ozkan, Departments of Electrical Engineering and Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Riverside, Bourns Hall A241, Riverside, CA 92521. |
| Molecular beacons (MBs) have been used as DNA probes since 1996 after the work presented by Tyagi and Kramer. Then, further developments followed to improve the performance of MBs by modifying the structure of fluorophores and quenchers. Yet, due to photobleaching and instability of organic dyes, the use of MBs especially for in vivo applications remains as a limitation. Hence, there is an immediate need to further engineer MBs for extended life time and stronger signals. Here, we present quantum dot conjugated MBs that offer these advantages. For this, conventional organic dyes are replaced with colloidal quantum dots. Our most recent studies with modified MBs show larger than signal to noise ratio of 4. The signal to noise ratio is decided by fraction of the materials conjugated with molecular beacons and thus we are investigating various fractions of mixtures for higher signal to noise ratio. Finally, our engineered molecular beacons can be applied to in vivo applications for detection of single nucleotide polymorphism, mutation, pathogenic and RNA detection. |
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Biological Applications of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology (sponsored by Advanced Materials & Nanotechnology Subdivision)
1:30 PM-4:50 PM, Wednesday, March 26, 2003 Convention Center -- Room 393, Oral
Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry |