Perspectives in Nanoparticle Imaging of Living Cells

Semiconductor nanocrystals are used in applications as diverse as solar‐energy conversion, lighting, displays and biological imaging. While electrons and holes move freely in bulk semiconductors, they ‘recombine’ and emit light when they are confined in a quantum dot or nanocrystal. Moreover, as the color of this light can be tuned by varying the size of the quantum dots much excitement has been created over the past years that these advanced materials may provide superior tools for medical imaging and their use in life cell bioimaging is just around the corner (1). However, despite a number of singular reports on successful use of nanoparticles in life cell imaging, a number of pitfalls have been recognized over the past decade. We will compare properties of nanocrystals with other fluorophores, report on their toxicity in living cells and describe novel instrumentation for improved detection of nanocrystals in living cells.