Jwa‐Min Nam

An ultrasensitive method for detecting protein analytes has been developed. The system relies on magnetic microparticle probes with antibodies that specifically bind a target of interest [prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in this case] and nanoparticle probes that are encoded with DNA that is unique to the protein target of interest and antibodies that can sandwich the target captured by the microparticle probes. 1480Magnetic separation of the complexed probes and target followed by dehybridizatio

Novel two-component oligonucleotide-modified nanoparticle probes have been designed and used in a bio-bar-code assay with a 500 zeptomolar target DNA sensitivity limit.

Recent advances of plasmonic nanoparticles include fascinating developments in the fields of energy, catalyst chemistry, optics, biotechnology, and medicine. The plasmonic photothermal properties of metallic nanoparticles are of enormous interest in biomedical fields because of their strong and tunable optical response and the capability to manipulate the photothermal effect by an external light source. To date, most biomedical applications using photothermal nanoparticles have focused on photot

Plasmonic coupling-based electromagnetic field localization and enhancement are becoming increasingly important in chemistry, nanoscience, materials science, physics, and engineering over the past decade, generating a number of new concepts and applications. Among the plasmonically coupled nanostructures, metal nanostructures with nanogaps have been of special interest due to their ultrastrong electromagnetic fields and controllable optical properties that can be useful for a variety of signal e

Plasmonic nanostructures possessing unique and versatile optoelectronic properties have been vastly investigated over the past decade. However, the full potential of plasmonic nanostructure has not yet been fully exploited, particularly with single-component homogeneous structures with monotonic properties, and the addition of new components for making multicomponent nanoparticles may lead to new-yet-unexpected or improved properties. Here we define the term "multi-component nanoparticles" as hy

The application scope of plasmonic nanostructures is rapidly expanding to keep pace with the ongoing development of various scientific findings and emerging technologies. However, most plasmonic nanostructures heavily depend on rare, expensive, and extensively studied noble metals such as Au and Ag, with the limited choice of elements hindering their broad and practical applications in a wide spectral range. Therefore, abundant and inexpensive nonnoble metals have attracted attention as new plas

By utilizing oligonucleotide-modified Au nanoparticles encoded with sequences that act as biobarcodes, one can screen for multiple target polyvalent proteins simultaneously in one solution. This novel concept was demonstrated with two types of detection formats, a homogeneous assay and one based on oligonucleotide microarrays. With such an approach, one can prepare an extraordinarily large number of barcodes from synthetically accessible oligonucleotides (e.g., a 12-mer sequence offers 4(12) pos

Synthesizing plasmonic nanostructures in an ultraprecise manner is of paramount importance because the nanometer-scale structural details can significantly affect their plasmonic properties. Au nanocubes (AuNCs) have been a highly promising, heavily studied nanostructure with high potential in various fields, but an ultraprecise synthesis from 10 to 100 nm in size over a large number of AuNCs has not been well established. Precisely structured AuNC-based studies for a highly reproducible, quanti

Hot electron chemistry has drawn tremendous attention from applications related to materials, energy, sensing, and catalysis. The plasmon‐induced generation of hot electrons and their transfer behavior are very important for understanding plasmonic‐enhanced applications and for achieving practically useful efficiency. From a plasmonic perspective, well‐designed plasmonic structures that can manipulate surface plasmons are able to enhance the efficiencies of hot electron‐based processes. This pro

It is becoming increasingly evident that cell biology research can be considerably advanced through the use of bioengineered tools enabled by nanoscale technologies. Recent advances in nanopatterning techniques pave the way for engineering biomaterial surfaces that control cellular interactions from the nano- to the microscale, allowing more precise quantitative experimentation capturing multi-scale aspects of complex tissue physiology in vitro. The spatially and temporally controlled display of

Ink flowing from a pen: Direct-write dip-pen nanolithography of His-tagged proteins (ubiquitin and thioredoxin) has been used to generate biologically active protein nanoarrays with feature sizes as small as 80 nm on nickel oxide surfaces without the need for an applied electric field. The protein molecules in this system seem to diffuse from the Ni-coated atomic force microscopy (AFM) tips to the Ni-coated substrate (see diagram). Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW

For biomedical applications, the NIR-II window provides several advantages over the conventional NIR-I window, including deeper penetration depth, low autofluorescence, and higher value of maximum permissible exposure to laser power. An overview of recently reported NIR-II-window-responsive plasmonic gold nanostructures is presented, and the opportunities, challenges, and future directions for these nanostructures in biomedical research fields are discussed. Colloidal plasmonic nanoparticles (PN

The bio-barcode amplification assay has become a powerful tool in detecting tens to hundreds of biological targets such as proteins and nucleic acids in the entire sample. However, current bio-barcode detection schemes still require many experimental steps including microarrayer-based immobilization of oligonucleotides on a glass chip, silver enhancement of immobilized gold nanoparticles on a chip, and light-scattering measurement. Here, we report a colorimetric bio-barcode method that minimizes

Plasmonic gap nanostructures (PGNs) have been extensively investigated mainly because of their strongly enhanced optical responses, which stem from the high intensity of the localized field in the nanogap. The recently developed methods for the preparation of versatile nanogap structures open new avenues for the exploration of unprecedented optical properties and development of sensing applications relying on the amplification of various optical signals. However, the reproducible and controlled