Opportunities for new photodynamic molecular beacon designs

The ability to provide biomolecular recognition with a fluorescence readout has made molecular beacons useful in various medical and biological applications. Combined with photodynamic therapy photosensitizers, photodynamic molecular beacons hold potential as new tools for not only disease diagnosis, but therapy as well. In this chapter, we focus on classic and emerging nucleic acid-based molecular beacon design considerations. Designs based on the original stem-and-loop structure have been expanded, and these concepts have direct applicability for conversion into photodynamic molecular beacons.