A SELDI-TOF approach to ecotoxicology: comparative profiling of low molecular weight proteins from a marine diatom exposed to CdSe/ZnS quantum dots

Quantum dots (QDs), namely semiconductor nanocrystals, due to their particular optical and electronic properties, have growing applications in device technology, biotechnology and biomedical fields. Nevertheless, the possible threat to human health and the environment have attracted increasing attention as the production and applications of QDs increases rapidly while standard evaluation of safety lags.