Issue 6, 2016

Nanoscale bio-platforms for living cell interrogation: current status and future perspectives

Abstract

The living cell is a complex entity that dynamically responds to both intracellular and extracellular environments. Extensive efforts have been devoted to the understanding intracellular functions orchestrated with mRNAs and proteins in investigation of the fate of a single-cell, including proliferation, apoptosis, motility, differentiation and mutations. The rapid development of modern cellular analysis techniques (e.g. PCR, western blotting, immunochemistry, etc.) offers new opportunities in quantitative analysis of RNA/protein expression up to a single cell level. The recent entries of nanoscale platforms that include kinds of methodologies with high spatial and temporal resolution have been widely employed to probe the living cells. In this tutorial review paper, we give insight into background introduction and technical innovation of currently reported nanoscale platforms for living cell interrogation. These highlighted technologies are documented in details within four categories, including nano-biosensors for label-free detection of living cells, nanodevices for living cell probing by intracellular marker delivery, high-throughput platforms towards clinical current, and the progress of microscopic imaging platforms for cell/tissue tracking in vitro and in vivo. Perspectives for system improvement were also discussed to solve the limitations remains in current techniques, for the purpose of clinical use in future.

Graphical abstract: Nanoscale bio-platforms for living cell interrogation: current status and future perspectives

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
27 Sep 2015
Accepted
24 Dec 2015
First published
29 Dec 2015

Nanoscale, 2016,8, 3181-3206

Author version available

Nanoscale bio-platforms for living cell interrogation: current status and future perspectives

L. Chang, J. Hu, F. Chen, Z. Chen, J. Shi, Z. Yang, Y. Li and L. J. Lee, Nanoscale, 2016, 8, 3181 DOI: 10.1039/C5NR06694H

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