Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles, as used in Nanosphere’s Verigene^® System and tests, are typically 13-20 nanometers (nm) in diameter. One nanometer is approximately one ten-thousandth (1/10,000) of the width of a human hair.

Depending upon the application, each nanoparticle is functionalized with either a defined number of oligonucleotides (i.e., short pieces of DNA or RNA with sequences complementary to target sequences of clinical interest) or a defined number of antibodies that are specific to a particular protein of interest (e.g., prostate-specific antigen [PSA], cardiac troponin I [cTnI]).
	Graphic of a gold nanoparticle functionalized with sequence-specific oligonucleotides.