Protease sensing using nontoxic silicon quantum dots

Xiaoyu Cheng; Benjamin F P McVey; Andrew B Robinson; Guillaume Longatte; Peter B O'Mara; Vincent T G Tan; Pall Thordarson; Richard D Tilley; Katharina Gaus; John Justin Gooding

doi:10.1117/1.JBO.22.8.087002

Protease sensing using nontoxic silicon quantum dots

J Biomed Opt. 2017 Aug;22(8):1-7. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.22.8.087002.

Affiliations

¹ University of New South Wales, School of Chemistry, Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, ARC Centre o, Australia.
² University of New South Wales, EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science, School of Medical Sci, Australia.

PMID: 28836415
DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.22.8.087002

Abstract

Herein is presented a proof-of-concept study of protease sensing that combines nontoxic silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) with Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). The SiQDs serve as the donor and an organic dye as the acceptor. The dye is covalently attached to the SiQDs using a peptide linker. Enzymatic cleavage of the peptide leads to changes in FRET efficiency. The combination of interfacial design and optical imaging presented in this work opens opportunities for use of nontoxic SiQDs relevant to intracellular sensing and imaging.

Keywords: Förster resonance energy transfer; biosensor; quantum dots; self-assembled monolayer; silicon.

MeSH terms

Biosensing Techniques / instrumentation*
Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
Peptide Hydrolases / analysis*
Quantum Dots* / chemistry
Silicon*

Substances

Peptide Hydrolases
Silicon