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Recent developments in Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) diagnostics using quantum dots

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Abstract

The exceptional photophysical properties and the nanometric dimensions of colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QD) have strongly attracted the bioanalytical community over the last approximately 20 y. In particular, the integration of QDs in the analysis of biological components and interactions, and the related diagnostics using Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), have allowed researchers to significantly improve and diversify fluorescence-based biosensing. In this TRENDS article, we review some recent developments in QD-FRET biosensing that have implemented this technology in electronic consumer products, multiplexed analysis, and detection without light excitation for diagnostic applications. In selected examples of smartphone-based imaging, single- and multistep FRET, steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy, and bio/chemiluminescence detection of QDs used as both FRET donors and acceptors, we highlight the advantages of QD-based FRET biosensing for multiplexed and sensitive diagnostics.

Quantum dots (QDs) can be applied as donors and/or acceptors for Förster resonance energy transfer- (FRET-) based biosensing for multiplexed and sensitive diagnostics in various assay formats

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Acknowledgments

N.H. acknowledges the Institut Universitaire de France. D.G. acknowledges financial support from the European Commission (EMPIR project 14IND12 Innanopart).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division 1.10 Biophotonics, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11, 12489, Berlin, Germany

    Daniel Geißler

  2. NanoBioPhotonics (www.nanofret.com), Institut d’Electronique Fondamentale, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405, Orsay cedex, France

    Niko Hildebrandt

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Correspondence to Daniel Geißler or Niko Hildebrandt.

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Geißler, D., Hildebrandt, N. Recent developments in Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) diagnostics using quantum dots. Anal Bioanal Chem 408, 4475–4483 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-016-9434-y

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