Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Compact Quantum Dots for Single-molecule Imaging
Published on: October 9, 2012
Near-infrared fluorescence imaging with water-soluble lead salt quantum dots
Byung-Ryool Hyun1, Hongyu Chen, Diego A Rey
1Department of Food Science, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA. bh73@cornell.edu
Abstract:
A simple procedure for transferring PbS and PbSe quantum dots into water is presented, along with characterization of the resulting water-soluble quantum dots. The external surface of the water-soluble quantum dots include carboxylic groups, which will allow target-specific labeling of cells. As a first example, near-infrared fluorescence imaging of human colon cancer cells is demonstrated using these water-soluble near-infrared fluorophores.

