Peptide coated quantum dots for biological applications.

Quantum dots (QDOTs) have been widely recognized by the scientific community and the biotechnology industry, as witnessed by the exponential growth of this field in the past several years. We describe the synthesis and characterization of visible and near infrared QDots--a critical step for engineering organic molecules like proteins and peptides for building nanocomposite materials with multifunctional properties suitable for biological applications.