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Weizmann and colleagues develop nanoparticle-based technique for rapid, low energy thermocycling

By Irene Hsiao

Nucleic acid amplification, used in PCR and other methods, involves a cycle of heating and cooling that is both time-consuming and expensive. In "Plasmonic Photothermal Gold Bipyramid Nanoreactors for Ultra-Fast Real Time Bioassays," the cover story of JACS on 21 June 2017,  Yossi Weizmann and colleagues use gold bipyramidal nanoparticles and LEDs for rapid, low-energy thermocycling to produce consistent amplification of nucleic acids, a method that holds great promise as a tool in biomedical research.