Fig. 1.

Design of multifunctional nanoagents for detection and photodynamic treatment of bacterial infections. a Synthetic route of nanoagents of GP-Ce6-SiNPs. GP-Ce6-SiNPs are composed of SiNPs conjugated to GP and loaded with Ce6 molecules. b Imaging and treatment of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial infections by GP-Ce6-SiNPs. GP-Ce6-SiNPs are robustly internalized by ABC transporters, which are only present in bacterial cells while not present in mammalian cells. Under 405-nm excitation, GP-Ce6-SiNPs exhibit two typical emission maxima peaks at 520 nm (assigned to SiNPs) and 670 nm (assigned to Ce6). Under 660-nm irradiation, ROS of ¹O₂ is produced from Ce6, triggering PDT against bacteria. The cartoons are created by Dr. Houyu Wang