Metal-enhanced fluorescence: Potential applications in HTS

Metallic surfaces and particles can have dramatic effects on fluorescence, including localized excitation, increased quantum yields, increased photostability and increased distances for resonance energy transfer (RET), and directional emission. While all these effects have not yet been realized in a single system, metal-enhanced fluorescence promises to provide the next generation of high sensitivity fluorescence assays for low copy number detection of biochemical species.