My Pittcon Picks: Nanoprobes

I won't make it to Pittcon this year, but in case you'll be in Orlando for the conference next week, here are a few microscopy-related papers I that look important to me. These two both involve nanoprobes, I'll post some more "Pittcon Picks" as I work through the conference program.

Investigations of Translational and Rotational Motions in Living Cells Using Plasmonic Nanoprobes and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy

Ning Fang, Iowa State University
Studying the rotational motion of biomolecules in living cells is quite a technical challenge, but this type of motion is an important part of endocytosis and intracellular transport. The researchers developed an optical imaging tool that uses plasmonic nanoparticle probes and differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy to visualize translational and rotational motion of single-nanoparticles in complex environments. The researchers used the new tool to reveal the rotational motions of single gold nanorods during receptor-mediated endocytosis by A549 human lung cancer cells and subsequent intracellular transport on the microtubule network.

Real-time Imaging of Transport and Diffusion of Single Gold Nanoparticles In Vivo

Lauren Browning, Old Dominion University
The researchers synthesized monodisperse gold nanoparticles that were photostabile enough to be used to image transport and diffusion in zebrafish embryos. They used the nanoparticles to study dynamic events during embryonic development at nanometer resolution in real-time.