Quantum Dot Peptide Biosensors for Monitoring Caspase 3 Proteolysis and Calcium Ions

nterest in utilizing nanoparticle materi-als to create hybrid biological-inorganic sensors and probes continues to grow relatively unabated.111 Among available nanomaterials, colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) are an appealing choice due to the unique electro-chemical and photophysical properties they provide.46,10,12 From an optical per-spective these include broad absorption spectra, size-tunable, narrow-symmetric emissions with high quantum yields, large “effective ” Stokes shifts, and robust resis-tance to both photo- and chemical degradation.46 When interfaced with bio