Quantum dots are a new class of fluorescent probes that take advantage of the unique attributes of nanometer-scale semiconductor particles to provide bright, stable, and sharp fluorescence for biological labeling applications. The editors (of the Quantum Dot Corporation in California) present 19 papers detailing some of the biological applications that utilize quantum dots. Papers discuss the use of quantum dots in imaging and fixed cells and protocols are provided for quantum dots in protein and structural cellular labeling, single-receptor trafficking, clinical pathology, and correlative microscopy. Preliminary work concerning the imaging of live animals is presented, including for molecular and cellular imaging, sentinel lymph node mapping, and macrophage colocalization of quantum dots in experimental glioma. A pair of flow cytometry applications are presented and the work concludes with discussions of three biochemical applications: luminescent biocompatible quantum dots for immunosorbent assay design, quantum dots for fluorescence-based analysis of cellular protein lysate arrays, and quantum dots in four-color genotyping experiments. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)