Applying metal oxides like titanium and zinc could lead to innovative quantum sensing and biological labeling developments. “Nanodiamonds are incredible microtools with immediate applications,” explained Karen Lopez, a biomedical engineering Ph.D. student at the University of California, Irvine, who, like the other SJSU authors, worked on the study as an undergraduate. “Now that we understand how the silica shell forms, we can begin optimizing it and expanding to other materials," she added.