Building Towards Single Particle Characterization of Nanoparticle Bioconjugates*

Development of functional nanoparticle bioconjugates has been an important research area for nearly the last decade. Functionalized nanoparticles of various self-assembled monolayers (SAM-layers) have been used for biological and medical applications. Determining the exact spatial distribution of functionalized antibodies on the surface of the nanoparticles will provide necessary information to fully characterize and optimized nanoparticle bioconjugates for the preclinical stages of research. Gold bipyramids have been synthesized and then coated with a SAM-layer of various ligand types. Current and future work consists of conjugating these functionalized nanoparticles with fluorescently labeled anti-EGFR antibodies, which will enable imaging of the number and spatial arrangement of antibodies around the gold bipyramid using Total Internal Reflection Fluorescent (TIRF) Microscopy. EGFR is chosen as the target for future applications in cancer therapy.