Home

About ProteoColor

About MultiPlxBeads

Order Now

Technology

Protocols & Other Resources

FAQ

Contact

Technology

ProteoColor™ MultiPlxBeads™ are 5 µ acrylic beads encoded with nanocrystals (quantum dots). Unlike standard quantum dots that are size-tunable (i.e. the emission wavelength is determined by the crystal size), those used for ProteoColor MultiPlxBeads are composition-tunable; quantum dot colors are tuned by manipulating semiconductor materials in the core. As a result, all ProteoColor MultiPlxBeads have identical photostability and quantum efficiency, irrespective of emission wavelengths. Further, the excitation spectra are broad. Any wavelength below the emission wavelengths can be used for excitation.
ProteoColor MultiPlxBeads are available as two- or four-color beads. Color choices for the two-color beads are Blue (490 nm), Grass Green (525 nm), Yellow (575 nm), Scarlet (630 nm) and Red (665 nm) as shown below.

Sets of two-color MultiPlxBeads are generated by using four different intensity levels of each of the two colors chosen (Figure 1). Four-color beads are available as a binary set, where each of four standard colors is either present or absent; the four standard colors are Blue (490 nm), Grass Green (525 nm), Yellow (575 nm) and Scarlet (630 nm) (Figure 2). Custom colors are available upon request for two- and four-color MultiPlxBeads.

Figure 1: Example set of 16 two-color ProteoColor MultiPlxBeads, using Grass Green (525 nm) and Scarlet (630 nm) nanocrystals.

Figure 2: Set of 16 four-color ProteoColor MultiPlxBeads.

ProteoColor MultiPlxBeads are suited for multiplex assays (Figure 3). They are available functionalized with carboxyl groups to which biological molecules can be conjugated. Alternatively, MultiPlxBeads conjugated to avidin are available for use with biotin-tagged reagents.

Figure 3: Color combinations in ProteoColor MultiPlxBeads produce unique codes, allowing multiplexing. This example shows four-color MultiPlxBeads.

Key features of ProteoColor MultiPlxBeads:

• MultiPlxBeads are brighter than dye-encoded beads.

• They have narrow emission wavelengths, making it easier to discern different colors (Figure 4). Thus no special software is required when multiplexing.

• They have superior photostability and show no photobleaching.

• A single wavelength of light can be used to excite all colors of MultiPlxBeads.

• The beads are tuned to provide strong signal on standard instruments such as flow cytometers.

Figure 4: Nanocrystal-encoded ProteoColor MultiPlxBeads make it easier to differentiate between the different codes since emission spectra are narrow compared to those of dyes.

2403 Sidney Street, Suite 255 ï Pittsburgh, PA 15203 ï 412-488-9353