Constantly increasing sector of industry of biomedical diagnostics requires photosensitive and stable nanomaterials which can be specifically bio-labeled for targeting selected cells in the body. Here we describe two types of novel nanomaterials conjugated with specific proteins recognized by dying (apoptotic and necrotic) cells. They are luminescent GaN:Eu 3+ -doped nanoparticles with wide green emission and very narrow red emission and fluorescent green-emitting fluorescein-containing polystyrene nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were conjugated with carbohydrate recognizing proteins -the lectins -that are targeting specific cell surface glycoproteins which were recently shown to be novel markers of dying cells (Bilyy et al., 2003, Bilyy et al., 2007. Both luminescent and fluorescent nanoparticles possessed high brightness and low level of photobleaching and efficiently interacted with dying cells, thus discriminating them from the intact ones.