What is it about?
Strategic application of Quantum Dots in all kinds of super-resolution microscopy techniques.
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Why is it important?
Quantum dots (QDs) are well known as bright and photostable inorganic fluorescent probes for microscopy imaging, with many attractive features superior to that found in organic dyes. But their broadband excitation spectrum and emission blinking property have limited the applicability of QDs in modern super-resolution microscopy techniques. In this work, we systematically investigate practical approaches to overcoming these drawbacks and provide examples of their use across many commercially available super-resolution microscopy systems now accessible to biologists, with examples across the major super-resolution techniques. This work further maps out how QDs can be further engineered to facilitate their applications in the respective super-resolution microscopy techniques.
Perspectives
In this work, we successfully developed a variety of viable techniques to enable the use of commercially available QDs suitable to work for all most commercially available super-resolution microscopy setups with enhanced performance. The body of our systematic investigations and other recent parallel investigations leading to QD based super-resolution techniques by other groups has not only meet and overcome a recognized bottle-neck by taking advantage of the absorption and emission behavior of QDs in careful considerations of the requirements by the modern super-resolution techniques, but also this work has taken an important step in enriching super-resolution by enabling the routine use of QDs as bright fluorescent labels for use by biologists in nanoscopy. Although QDs are a very powerful sub-cellular fluorescent labels, there remains a broad potential to further tailor their functions to make them more suitable for super-resolution nanoscopy, as highlighted in this paper. Moreover, the fascinating multiplexing capability of tunable colored QDs will enable multi-color and/or co-localization super-resolution techniques to be realized; a field which is yet to be fully explored.
Dr Peng Xi
Peking University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Versatile application of fluorescent quantum dot labels in super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, ACS Photonics, July 2016, American Chemical Society (ACS),
DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00178.
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