Patent ID: 6986989

Claim:
A method of binding oligonucleotides to nanoparticles to produce stable nanoparticle-oligonucleotide conjugates, the method comprising: providing oligonucleotides having covalently bound thereto a moiety comprising a functional group which can bind to the nanoparticles; contacting the oligonucleotides and the nanoparticles in aqueous solution for a period of time sufficient to allow at least some of the oligonucleotides to bind to the nanoparticles; adding at least one salt to the aqueous solution to form a salt solution; and contacting the oligonucleotides and nanoparticles in the salt solution for an additional period of time sufficient to allow sufficient additional oligonucleotides to bind to the nanoparticles to produce the stable nanoparticle-oligonucleotide conjugates.