Luminescent biodetection based on lanthanide-doped inorganic nanoprobes

Abstract Sensitive and selective biodetection is essential for many applications in biology and medicine, including protein purification, DNA immunoassay, early cancer diagnosis and therapeutics. Lanthanide-doped inorganic nanoprobes, emerging as an alternative to conventional molecular luminescent probes by overcoming their current limitations, have attracted a reviving interest for a variety of bioapplications due to their distinct optical properties. In this review, we focus on the most recent progress on the development of lanthanide-doped luminescent nano-bioprobes and their biodetection of model analytes, nucleic acids, ions, and disease markers both in vivo and in vitro . In particular, we highlight the typical bioconjugation strategies and detection techniques for different target analytes. Finally, some most important emerging trends and future efforts toward this rapidly growing field are also proposed.