Quantum Dot Licenses Luminescent Nanoparticle Technology

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 7 -- Quantum Dot Corp. has obtained exclusive licenses on luminescent nanoparticles from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Melbourne and the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Quantum dot nanoparticles are molecule-sized bits of semiconductor material that light up like light-emitting diodes and enable the detection and bar-coding of biological materials ranging from DNA to proteins. The technology is expected to lead to advances in genetic analysis, flow cytometry, drug discovery, high-throughput screening, fluorescence microscopy and diagnostics. The development of semiconductor nanoparticles for biological labeling gives biologists an entire new class of fluorescent probes and multiplexing agents, said Shimon Weiss, staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley Lab.