DNA Detection: A Molecular Beacon‐Based Signal‐Off Surface‐Enhanced Raman Scattering Strategy for Highly Sensitive, Reproducible, and Multiplexed DNA Detection (Small 15/2013)

A molecular beacon-based signal-off SERS strategy is developed by Y. He and co-workers on page 2493, who employ stem–loop oligonucleotides as novel capture and reporter probes. This signal-off strategy exhibits excellent sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility, and adequate multiplexing capacity, opening up exciting opportunities towards practical SERS-relevant sensing applications. The cover image shows that DNA strands are readily detected via observing an effective signal switch from an ‘on’ (left) to an ‘off’ (right) state.