Abstract
Understanding biological processes at the molecular level with accurate quantitation needs advanced bioanalysis. In this review, we describe dye-doped silica nanoparticles (NPs), their synthesis, bioconjugation, and applications in different bioanalysis formats. Silica-based nanomaterials have been developed with optical-encoding capabilities for the selective tagging of a wide range of biomedically important targets, such as bacteria, cancer cells, and individual biomolecules. We also briefly review other closely related nanomaterials, such as quantum dots, Au NPs, and magnetic NPs. We envisage that further development of these NPs will provide a variety of advanced tools for molecular biology, genomics, proteomics, drug discovery, and diagnosis and therapy of infectious disease and cancer.