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Quantum dots (QDs) with a nanoscale size range have attracted significant attention in various areas of nanotechnology due to their unique properties.Different strategies for the synthesis of QD nanoparticles are reported in which various factors, such as size, impurities, shape, and crystallinity, affect the QDs fundamental properties. Consequently, to obtain QDs with appropriate physical properties, it is required to select a synthesis method which allows enough control over the surface chemistry of QDs through fine-tuning of the synthesis parameters. Moreover, QDs nanocrystals are recently used in multidisciplinary research integrated with biological interfaces. The state-of-the-art methods for synthesizing QDs and bioconjugation strategies to provide insight into various applications of these nanomaterials are discussed herein. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Telomerase, which has been detected in almost all kinds of cancer tissues, is considered as an important tumor marker for early cancer diagnostics. In the present study, an electrochemical method based on liposomal signal amplification platform is proposed for simple, PCR-free, and highly sensitive detection of human telomerase activity, extracted from A549 cells. In this strategy, telomerase reaction products, which immobilized on streptavidin-coated microplate, hybridized with biotinylated capture probes. Then, dopamine-loaded biotinylated liposomes are attached through streptavidin to biotinylated capture probes. Finally, liposomes are ruptured by methanol and the released-dopamine is subsequently measured using differential pulse voltammetry technique by multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified glassy carbon electrode. Using this strategy, the telomerase activity extracted from 10 cultured cancer cells could be detected. Therefore, this approach affords high sensitivity for telomerase activity detection and it can be regarded as an alternative to telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay, having the advantages of simplicity and less assay time. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Reactivation of telomerase, which is observed in more than 85% of all known human tumours, is considered a promising tumour marker for cancer diagnosis. With respect to the biomedical importance of telomerase, we have developed a simple strategy based on liposomal fluorescent signal amplification for highly sensitive optical detection of telomerase activity using liposome-encapsulated cadmium telluride quantum dots. In this strategy, telomerase extracted from A549 cells elongated the biotinylated telomerase substrate primer, which was then immobilized on streptavidine-coated microplate wells. After the hybridization of the telomerase-elongated product with biotinylated capture probe, streptavidin was added to the assembly. In the next step, biotinylated liposome was conjugated with capture probe through streptavidin. Finally, QD-encapsulated liposomes were disrupted by Triton X-100, and the fluorescence intensity of the released QDs was measured to detect telomerase activity. The results showed that the proposed nanobiosensor was able to detect telomerase activity from as few as 10 A549 cells without the enzymatic amplification of telomerase extension products. In short, this method is not only convenient and sensitive, but also has a simple operating protocol and a wide detection range (10-5000 cells). A linear range was observed between 50 and 800 cells with a correlation coefficient of 0.982 and regression equation of y = 0.0444 x + 17.137. The proposed method is economical, more user-friendly, without error-prone PCR, with a wide detection range and simple operating protocol without the requirement for sophisticated equipment. Graphical Abstract Schematic representation of the QD-encapsulated liposome-based strategy to amplify fluorescence signal for optical detection of telomerase activity.