Choose your target carefully.
Even before you optimize your imaging protocol, says Jeff Peterson, vice president for biology at ViSen Medical, make sure you choose the right target for a particular biological question. For example, to image a breast tumor in vivo, appropriate targets might include matrix metalloproteases at the tumor's leading edge, the proliferative-phase nuclear protein Ki-67, the estrogen-linked cathepsin D, or a variety of other molecular markers. Each different target will provide different imaging results.
Match your fluorophore to your experiment.If you're using a traditional fluorescent label, this can be as simple as making sure the excitation and emission wavelengths match your instrumentation. Quantum dots give you more control over these parameters, says Brad Kairdolf, a graduate student in Shuming Nie's laboratory at Emory University, because the composition, coating, and size of QDs can be changed to give a particular absorption and emission spectrum. Giving attention to the QD ...
