Nano-particle motion/transport in biological liquids

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Nanoparticles (NPs) and nanomaterial-based products are attracting an ever-growing interest in the scientific community thanks to their unique properties which allow their usage in different fields to perform a wide range of tasks. Medicine is one of the most promising fields of application for these materials, and an extensive number of researches use NPs for medical imaging, disease diagnoses, drug delivery, cancer treatment, gene therapy and so on. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge about the dynamics of NPs when dispersed in biological fluids. A clear comprehension of how NPs interact with the surrounding environment is necessary to fully understand their potential toxic health effects. In this study, an investigation on the dynamics of NPs with different size and formulation immersed in a range of biological media will be performed, in order to propose a grouping and categorisation of NPs with similar behaviour and to understand whether and how they interact with the surrounding biological components. Analysis will be conducted using a novel real-time single tracking approach exploiting the caustic phenomena in optical microscopy. Enhanced understanding of NPs behaviour in biological media, will pave the way to a much conscious and safe usage in medicine.