Andrew Burns

TL;DR: This tutorial review will highlight the findings and describe the evolution of the fluorescent core-shell silica nanoparticle concept towards integration of multiple functionalities including mesoporosity, metal nanoshells and quantitative chemical sensing that point towards the development of "lab on a particle" architectures with promising prospects for nanobiotechnology, drug development and beyond.

TL;DR: In this article, a sensor particle comprised of a silica-based core and at least one photoluminescent dye is employed to sense unknown environmental conditions or analytes in biological or non-biological systems, in vitro or in vivo.

TL;DR: The sensitive, real-time detection and imaging of lymphatic drainage patterns, particle clearance rates, nodal metastases, and differential tumor burden in a large-animal model of melanoma highlighted the distinct potential advantage of this multimodal platform for staging metastatic disease in the clinical setting.

TL;DR: A new generation of near-infrared fluorescent core-shell silica-based nanoparticles (C dots) tuned to hydrodynamic diameters of 3.3 and 6.0 nm with improved photophysical characteristics over the parent dye are created, suggesting a promising clinically translatable materials platform which may be adapted for tumor targeting and treatment.

TL;DR: A survey of recent research progress on the fabrication strategies of these nanoparticle systems and their applications to medical diagnostics and therapy can be found in this article, where a number of different materials can be assembled on, encapsulated within, or integrated both inside and on the surface of silica nanoparticles using different chemistries and techniques.