New approach to rapid bioassays
One of eight centers founded by the National Cancer Institute, Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalized and Predictive Oncology has conducted a research – they’ve been using silica beads with nanoscale pores as a carrier for two other nanoscale materials to create a new tool for conducting rapid, high-throughput assays of biological functions. Scientists constructed a new multifunctional device using quantum dots and iron oxide nanocrystals. They embedded the nanoparticles into the nanoscale pores in silica beads and then coated the beads with a polymer. Polymers coating helps the beads to dissolve in water and provides a surface onto which molecules can be attached.
It is possible to dope the pores with different quantum dots, each shining with a different color, and use the beads in multiplexed assays, as a result. Exposing it to a magnetic field for 5 minutes allowed the researchers to divide the microbeads.
