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Credit: X. Gao and S. Nie, Emory University School of Medicine
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Quantum dots (QDs) -- nano-sized semiconductor crystals that, when stimulated by laser light, can fluoresce in a rainbow of colors for weeks at a time -- are making the transition from physics and engineering to the "wet" world of the biomedical lab, where they can be used to trace specific genes or proteins within cells and organisms. S. Nie and colleagues at the Emory University School of Medicine have succeeded in attaching quantum dots to peptides or antibodies that recognize specific cancer cells, and then using the dots to isolate individual cancerous areas (as in this mouse). Potential applications for QD-based technology range from enhanced cell dynamic studies to new medical diagnostics and targeted drug delivery, as described in a news article by C. Seydel in Science's 4 April 2003 special issue.
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