Synthesis of Silica-Coated Quantum Dots to Increase Adhesion of Targeting Cells
Furzan Azam
Mentor: Jered Haun
Synthesis of silica-coated quantum dots is a process that must be done with care so as not to create particles
that are too large to use for physiological processes. Once synthesized successfully silica-coated quantum dots
can be used with different cell lines to increase functionality. I went about coating the cores of CdSe by using
a reverse micelle approach, which made it relatively easy to coat a thin shell around the core of the
nanoparticle that can be controlled to under 100nm. Then the lifetimes of the particles were observed using
TEM to see how they behaved. The particles will then be coated with organic molecules and subsequently
antibodies to target cells and provide high levels of adhesion. The unique properties of silica-coated quantum
dots and strong interest in using silica as a delivery vehicle due to excellent biocompatibility and ease of
manipulation may provide useful information to improve design of nano-scale targeted drug delivery system
for optimal targeting selectivity.