Pinning down cancer

US scientists have synthesised pin-shaped nanoparticles with magnetic and optical properties. The team, led by Xiaohua Huang at the University of Memphis, says that the nanoparticles ‘could be used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), early detection and photothermal therapy of cancer and other diseases’.

Transmission electron microscope image of the iron oxide–gold nanopins

Nanoparticles with both magnetic and optical properties are highly sought after in a number of fields, particularly medicine, where they could be efficient agents for imaging tumour cells using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and MRI.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Synthesis and properties of near infrared-absorbing magnetic–optical nanopins
Saheel Bhana, Binod K. Rai, Sanjay R. Mishra, Yongmei Wang and Xiaohua Huang
Nanoscale, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR31291C

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