Nanoparticles (NPs) possess distinctive physicochemical and surface properties, offering the possibility of being used as optical and photonic probes for imaging and sensing, as carriers for smart drug delivery, and as medicines to treat diseases. Their small sizes enable them to penetrate into living cells and organisms, and their unusually high surface-area-to-volume ratios make them highly unstable, subject to aggregation in suspension, and high chemical reactivity. We have synthesized and characterized a mini library of stable and purified noble metal NPs (e.g., Ag and Au NPs) with controlled sizes, shapes and surface properties. We have developed single nanoparticle optical microscopy and spectroscopy to characterize the sizes, shapes and optical properties of single NPs using their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectra, and developed single nanoparticle optical rulers to measure the size and shape of single plasmonic NPs <i>in situ</i> in real time. Our study shows that the inhibitory effects of NPs against tumor cell growth highly depend upon the dose, size and chemical properties of the NPs, type of tumor cells, and stage of tumor cells. Their underlying molecular mechanisms are complex.

Real-time probing of cytotoxic and therapeutic effects of single nanoparticles on single tumor cells

2019 Spring National Meeting

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