Figure 1.

Barcoded metallic nanowires for multiplexed biodetection. (a) Nanowires with different patterns of Au and Ag segments are functionalized with different molecular beacon probe sequences, which are nonfluorescent in the absence of target strands. When a mixture of target molecules, in this case complementary to probes 1 and 2, is incubated with the mixture of barcoded nanowires, (b) some nanowire-bound probes become fluorescent because of complementary target binding. Reflectance and fluorescence microscope images are acquired for the identification of nanowires and quantification of fluorescence, respectively, and (c) mean fluorescence intensities are calculated from populations of individual nanowires of each barcode pattern, to quantify the amount of each target present.