| AVS 54th International Symposium | |
| Nanometer-scale Science and Technology | Monday Sessions |
| Session NS-MoM |
| Session: | Nanoscale Assembly and Manipulation I |
| Presenter: | A.S. Blum, Naval Research Laboratory |
| Authors: | A.S. Blum, Naval Research Laboratory C.M. Soto, Naval Research Laboratory C.D. Wilson, SAIC K.E. Sapsford, George Mason University J.L. Whitley, SAIC A. Chatterji, Scripps Research Institute J.E. Johnson, Scripps Research Institute B.R. Ratna, Naval Research Laboratory |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
We present a new technique that allows the generic coupling of quantum dots to any biomolecule without the use of specially engineered domains. Using well-developed chemistry short histidine-containing peptides can be conjugated to lysine-containing protein scaffolds to controllably attach quantum dots (QDs) to the scaffold. This technique was used to bind quantum dots from aqueous solution to both chicken IgG and Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV), a 30 nm viral particle. These quantum dot-protein assemblies were studied in detail. The IgG-QD complexes were shown to retain binding specificity to their antigen after modification. The CPMV-QD complexes have a local concentration quantum dot greater than 3000 nmol/mL, and show a 15% increase in fluorescence quantum yield over free quantum dots in solution.