{
  "abstract": "Water-soluble near-infrared (NIR) emitters are of interest for imaging in the tissue transparency window. DNA-stabilized silver nanoclusters (DNA-AgN) hold promise for this spectral window, but it remains challenging to select oligonucleotides that stabilize NIR-emitting DNA-AgN. We address this challenge using transfer learning (TL), constructing a model that learns from experimental data for DNA-AgN stabilized by short 10-base oligonucleotides to then design longer oligonucleotides for larger, NIR-emitting nanoclusters. Using this model, we experimentally uncover 321 new DNA-AgN with peak emission beyond 800 nm, increasing design success by 710%. DNA-AgN designed using TL exhibit favorable properties including substantial emission above 1,000 nm, high fluorescence quantum yield, upconversion fluorescence, and a 14-electron count - the highest reported for DNA-AgN. These results demonstrate the power of TL for extracting physiochemical information from a limited parameter space and extrapolating these principles for broader design challenges, which is especially important when training data is scarce.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Materials Science and Engineering",
    "University of California",
    "Nanoscience Center and Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2100",
    "Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering",
    "Department of Chemistry",
    "Department of Physics & Astronomy"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Anthea Segger"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Peter Mastracco"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "I-Hsin Lin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Kylie Lytle"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Anna Gonzàlez-Rosell"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Vanessa Rück"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        3,
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Stacy M. Copp",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1788-1778"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/82h2ex6mbzft0.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008643/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "82h2ex6mbzft0",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008643/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2505|Nanocluster Synthesis and Applications"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212135451",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008643/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-10",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/82h2ex6mbzft0.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:19Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008643",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008643/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:2505|Nanocluster Synthesis and Applications",
      "subfield": "materials-polymers"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Transfer learning guides discovery of NIR-emissive DNA-stabilized silver nanoclusters",
  "title_text": "Transfer learning guides discovery of NIR-emissive DNA-stabilized silver nanoclusters",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:19Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/82h2ex6mbzft0",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}