Indirect MFM for sensing magnetic nanoparticles

Ohio State University, The, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

Proposal: 1403574 PI: Agarwal, Gunjan Title: Indirect MFM for sensing magnetic nanoparticles Iron can exist in the human body in the form of nanoparticles. In addition, magnetic nanoparticles are widely used in a number of biological applications. Biosensing techniques to accurately detect magnetic nanoparticles are not well-developed. This project will develop a new microscopy-based technique to detect magnetic nanoparticles. The proposed development can help a more accurate determination of iron content in human tissue for multiple pathologies and in bio-nanotechnology applications. A variety of superparamagnetic nanoparticles with unique and multi-functional properties are utilized in biosensing applications. Nanoscale iron-deposits found in-vivo are also superparamagnetic in nature. Techniques to characterize these nanoscale magnetic (iron) particles in biological systems at the single particle level are not well-developed. The overall goal of this proposal is to develop a novel biosensing modality, namely, InDirect Magnetic Force Microscopy (ID-MFM), to detect nanoscale magnetic particles. ID-MFM is expected to offer very high sensitivity and spatial resolution beyond the capabilities of existing biosensors and imaging modalities. This unique approach can be used to determine magnetic (iron) content in small quantities of samples and is expected to find a wide variety of applications in evaluating biological fluids, cells and tissue sections. The iron-encapsulating protein, ferritin, will be studied as a model magnetic nanoparticle because of its versatile applications in biomedicine and bio-nanotechnology. ID-MFM will be developed to detect ferritin in-vitro, in ambient air and in a fluid environment. The proposed efforts also include a multi-level enrichment plan in nanotechnology for K-8 students, undergraduates and graduate students through a hands-on workshop, research experience and inter-institutional collaboration.