HIGHLY LUMINESCENT MULTICOLOR SEMICONDUCTOR NANORODS FOR MULTIPLEXED FLUORESCENCE DETECTION OF DNA

Abstract

The versatility of colloidal semiconductor nanorods in fluorescence multiplexing applications is often limited by challenges in tuning their emission color while conserving their unique characteristics. In this thesis, we demonstrate that highly luminescent, multicolor semiconductor nanorods can be synthesized by precisely controlling certain key reaction parameters. The resulting multicolor nanorods not only exhibited a highly intense emission that could be tuned across most of the visible spectrum, but also a very uniform particle morphology. We then describe the development of a multiplexed fluorescence assay for the simultaneous detection of TB and drug resistance, using our synthesized multicolor nanorods as a proof-of-concept of their many promising potential applications as biologically compatible chromophores. We believe that our developed assay can be further expanded to the diagnosis of a variety of diseases, opening up new avenues in the fields of biomedical and point-of-care diagnostics.