A new class of molecular probes for fluorescence microscopy
24 Apr 2013
Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed fluorescent reporters for fluorescence microscopy and imaging.
Recent advances in fluorescence imaging and single-molecule fluorescence microscopy (SMFM) have enabled the direct observation of biological processes at the molecular level.
“Overall, there is a strong need for development of advanced molecular-scale probes for fluorescence imaging,” explained Charles Schroeder, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois.
The team at Illinois conducted a study into synthesised fluorescent dendritic nanoprobes (FDNs), which show enhanced brightness and extended photostability compared to small molecule fluorescent dyes.
Dendrimers are polymers featuring highly regular branched structures with large numbers of terminal functional groups. Compared to linear macromolecules, dendrimers can be synthesised with controlled shapes and nearly monodisperse sizes which is a key advantage for fluorescent probes used for biological labeling.
There is a strong need for development of advanced molecular-scale probes for fluorescence imaging
Over the past several years, dendrimers have been used for gene and drug delivery and diagnostic applications via live cell or animal imaging.
“Polymer-based dendrimer nanoconjugates hold strong potential as versatile fluorescent probes due to an intrinsic capacity for tailored spectral properties such as brightness and emission wavelength,” said Younghoon Kim, a postdoctoral research associate in bioengineering, and first author for the article.
Biocompatible probes with small dimensions are critically required for biological imaging and high-resolution fluorescence microscopy.
“In this work, we synthesised FDNs to contain multiple covalently linked organic dyes on nanometer-sized macromolecules,” Kim added. “Dye-conjugated dendrimers are compact in size and show superior spectral properties compared to single organic dyes.
“To our knowledge, this is a new class of molecular probes based on dye-conjugated dendrimers for fluorescence imaging and single-molecule fluorescence microscopy.”
“Our new class of fluorescent probes offer a variety of advantages for imaging, which will enable new studies molecular and cellular biology,” added Schroeder.
The work has led to a patent application for a new class of fluorescent reporters for fluorescence microscopy and imaging.
