Nanocage Decorated Magnetic Beads for Localized Heating

Highly tunableHighly targetable heatingBiologically filterable

Localized heating of biological systems. They are highly tunable and targetable, and have additional applications in the areas of thermal ablation of cancerous tissues and optofluidic systems.

Advances in nanotechnology and biomedical engineering dictate the need for localized heating on smaller and smaller scales. Previous methods that have been employed to address this need include resistive heating and heating by infrared laser. However, these methods are not applicable in situations where no metals or electricity can be used, or extremely specific targeting is required. Nanocages can be used to address these issues. They can be tuned to absorb different wavelengths appropriate for the desired applications. Furthermore, the use of biocompatible micron scale magnetic spheres can facilitate filtration out by the body through the liver and kidneys. These nanocage decorated magnetic beads can be easily delivered to the desired location in the biological system via manipulation of a magnetic field gradient, among other methods. The further addition of thermo-responsive polymers opens up applications in fast and simple temperature visualization on a scale where regular thermometers cannot work. This method triggers temperature increase with a single cell precision without complicated equipment or sample pre-processing.

USA