Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is an emerging molecular imaging modality that enables non-invasive, tomographic, unambiguous, sensitive, and quantitative imaging of the distribution of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) in a living subject. MPI signal is not attenuated by tissue and… Read More
Nanoparticle Hyperthermia and Nanoscale Thermal Cancer Therapy
Hyperthermia has been explored as a treatment for disease such as cancer since ancient times. Recently, the development of nanotechnology and realization that iron oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles can transform the energy of an alternating magnetic field into heat has spurred… Read More
Magnetic Nanoparticle Dynamics in Time-Varying Magnetic Fields
The response of biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles to time-varying magnetic fields forms the basis of exciting biomedical applications, such as nanoscale magnetic thermal therapy (magnetic hyperthermia), magnetic particle imaging, relaxometric sensing, and magnetically-triggered drug release. In all these applications, understanding the… Read More
Nanoparticle Stability and Transport in Complex and Biological Fluids
The intracellular environment can be described as crowded, complex, and confined, where biomacromolecules with characteristic dimensions of 1-10’s of nm are present at high concentration, and where membranes, organelles, and filamentous matrices restrict motion. Although important in designing nanoparticles for… Read More
Nanoparticle Synthesis and Characterization
Although magnetic nanoparticles have been synthesized since the 1960’s, most methods to obtain them yield particles with sub-optimal magnetic properties. Furthermore, many formulations intended for use in aqueous-phase result in rapid aggregation and precipitation in biological environments and in cell… Read More
Ferrofluids and Ferrohydrodynamics
Ferrofluids, semi-dilute suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles, are fascinating practically relevant examples of fluids that can be manipulated by magnetic fields. Although ferrofluids have been known since the 1960s, there is still much that is not known in terms of their… Read More