Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Jan;6(1):9-26.
doi: 10.1039/c3ib40165k.

Nanoparticles and their applications in cell and molecular biology

Edina C Wang  1 , Andrew Z Wang
Affiliations
Review

Nanoparticles and their applications in cell and molecular biology

Edina C Wang et al. Integr Biol (Camb). 2014 Jan.

Abstract

Nanoparticles can be engineered with distinctive composition, size, shape, and surface chemistry to enable novel techniques in a wide range of biological applications. The unique properties of nanoparticles and their behavior in biological milieu also enable exciting and integrative approaches to studying fundamental biological questions. This review will provide an overview of various types of nanoparticles and concepts of targeting nanoparticles. We will also discuss the advantages and recent applications of using nanoparticles as tools for drug delivery, imaging, sensing, and for the understanding of basic biological processes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

ECW has no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic representation of different types of nanoparticles.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The bio-barcode method. A. Development of the NP probe. B. Method of detection using prostate specific antigen-conjugated gold NP probes. Reproduced from Ref. 55.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Interactions between NP-GFP complexes and cell surfaces generates different fluorescence patterns. Reproduced from Ref. 60.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra and the correlated surface plasmon imaging of single cancer cells tagged with ScFv-conjugated gold NPs. Reproduced from Ref. 66.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Depiction of bacteria detection by magnetic glyco-NPs (MGNPs). Reproduced from Ref. 85.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Enhance surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection of circulating tumor cells. A) Schematic of EGF peptide-conjugated NPs. B) SERS spectra of different numbers of cancer cells spiked into white blood cell sample. C) SERS spectra of a blood sample incubated with targeted and non-targeted NPs. Reproduced from Ref. 97.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Allhoff F, Lin P, Moore D. What is nanotechnology and why does it matter? : from science to ethics. Chichester, UK ; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010. p. x.p. 293.
    1. Bangham AD. Liposomes: the Babraham connection. Chemistry and Physics of Lipids. 1993;64:275–285. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0009-3084(93)90071-A. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Torchilin VP. Recent advances with liposomes as pharmaceutical carriers. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2005;4:145–160. - PubMed
    1. Felgner PL, Ringold GM. Cationic liposome-mediated transfection. Nature. 1989;337:387–388. - PubMed
    1. Felgner PL, Gadek TR, Holm M, Roman R, Chan HW, Wenz M, Northrop JP, Ringold GM, Danielsen M. Lipofection: a highly efficient, lipid-mediated DNA-transfection procedure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 1987;84:7413–7417. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms