Quantum dot-based lateral flow immunoassay for the rapid detection of pathogens

On October 4, 2023, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus, and Aleksey Yekimov for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots (QDs). The Nobel Foundation credited QDs as being the “seeds of nanoscience”. As suggested by its name, QDs are extremely small matter resembling a dot. A QD is a photoluminescent nanoparticle composed of semiconductor materials with diameters ranging between 2 and 10 nm. It often consists of only a few thousand atoms and are smaller than human cells and viruses [1,2].