SBIR Phase I: Novel Nanosized Magnets for Highly Sensitive Multiplexing Bio-Molecular Detection

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在通过开发和应用基于独特铁磁纳米颗粒的新型对比剂或传感器材料，显著提高生物分子检测和医学成像中现有磁共振方法的信号电平或灵敏度(即100~1,000倍)。与目前磁共振检测方法中使用的传统顺磁传感器或造影剂相比，所提出的磁性纳米颗粒传感器的相干磁矩约为1000倍。纳米颗粒传感器在尺寸上与大多数蛋白质相当，以最大限度地减少标记过程中细胞表面膜和配体附着颗粒之间结合的空间位阻。这种独特的纳米颗粒可以很容易地制备成具有截然不同的磁共振特征的多路形式，用于复杂的生物分子标记和诊断应用。它们的表面可以进行化学修饰，以在体内检测具有高度生物特异性的细胞中的各种生物分子靶标。该项目的主要商业应用将是人类医疗保健。从该项目开发的产品将被用作先进的对比剂，用于医院的磁共振成像(MRI)和电子顺磁共振成像(EPRI)的医疗诊断。此外，这些产品还将在医学研究机构和学术实验室中应用于各种先进的分子检测和使用核磁共振(核磁共振)和电子顺磁共振(EPR)的成像实验。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is aimed at significantly increasing the signal level or the sensitivity (i.e. by 100~1,000 times) of existing magnetic resonance methods in biomolecule detection and medical imaging, by developing and applying novel contrasting agents or sensor materials based on unique ferromagnetic nanoparticles. Compared to the conventional paramagnetic sensors or contrasting agents used in current magnetic resonance detection methods, the proposed magnetic nanoparticle sensor has a coherent magnetic moment about 1,000 times larger. The nanoparticle sensor is comparable in size to most proteins to minimize the steric hindrance for the binding between cell surface membrane and ligand-attached particles in tagging processes. The unique nanoparticles can be readily prepared in multiplexing forms with distinctively different magnetic resonance signatures for complex bio-molecule tagging and diagnosis applications. Their surfaces can be chemically modified for in-vivo detection of various bio-molecular targets in a cell with high biological specificity. The main commercial application of the this project will be in human healthcare. Products developed from this project will find use as advanced contrasting agents in hospitals for medical diagnosis with MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and EPRI (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging). In addition, these products will also find applications in medical research institutes and academic labs for various advanced molecular detection and imaging experiments using NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and EPR (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance).