Imaging SmartFlare mRNA Detection Probes

[Mason, David [dnmason]]

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Hi List,

Short Version: Has anyone any experience with EMD Millipore's / Chad Mirkin's SmartFlare mRNA Detection Probes? Specifically imaging their localisation and endosomal escape within the cell.

Longer Version: We've been running an Open Science project (see https://raphazlabcommons.wordpress.com) trying to elucidate how SmartFlare mRNA detection probes work. We can't understand how oligonucleotide-coated gold nanoparticles escape the endosomal pathway to access and thus detect mRNA. All of our evidence suggests they they don't escape (we publicly host all of our data on our OMERO server so you can look for yourself...links on the blog).

As usual, the problem is that negative results are not published and rarely shared, so if anyone has tried using them or has any experiences (positive or negative), we'd love to hear from you, via email, the mailing list or the blog, as we're trying to get a paper out on the subject.

Thanks in advance!

Dave Mason

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David Mason, PhD
Centre for Cell Imaging, Institute of Integrative Biology,
University of Liverpool, L69 7ZB

Tel: [phone]
Web: http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~cci<http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/%7Ecci>
Blog: http://postacquisition.wordpress.com
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