With ANY BRAINS AT ALL IN STROKE, we could easily see using this to deliver tPA in precise doses to the clot sites. Of course nothing was done with magnetic nanoparticles or microrobots.
magnetic nanoparticles (5)
microrobots (1)
Magnetic nanopropellers deliver genetic material to cells
- 08 May 2020
- Stuttgart
- Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems
An
interdisciplinary team of scientists from Stuttgart, Heidelberg, and
London developed miniature magnetic nanopropellers that can deliver
genetic material to cells. They used a magnetic material that
outperforms the strongest known micromagnets, yet is chemically stable,
non-toxic and biologically compatible. Such new nanopropellers hold
great potential for biomedical applications and minimally invasive
surgeries of the future.
Stuttgart
– Scientists from the Micro Nano and Molecular Systems Lab and the
Modern Magnetic Systems Department at the Max Planck Institute for
Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) have succeeded in developing hard-magnetic
nanomagnets that could one day enable new procedures in medicine and
smaller devices in minimally invasive surgeries. Using an iron platinum
alloy, the researchers fabricated drill-shaped nanopropellers that are
the size of a bacterium. In collaboration with scientists from the
Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research centre in London, and the
Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, the
researchers showed that the magnetic nanopropellers are fully
biocompatible, i.e. have no adverse effects on cells, and can deliver
genetic material.
“The fantastical sounding
idea that magnetically steered nanopropellers could one day enable the
precise targeting and delivery of genes or drugs, holds great potential
in medicine. We just came one small step closer to its realization,”
says Peer Fischer, who heads the Micro Nano and Molecular Systems Lab
and is a pioneer in the research field of nanopropellers.
Major challenges to using
magnetic nanoparticles in biomedicine are that some commonly used
magnetic materials exhibit unacceptably high toxicity (nickel, cobalt),
others are difficult to fabricate (zinc ferrite), exhibit low chemical
stability (iron corrodes) or have very weak magnetic moments (iron
oxides). Additionally, commercially popular neodymium iron boron (NdFeB)
supermagnets cannot be fabricated or used at very small scales thus
far. Hence, finding a perfect material for this application is very
challenging.
The team from the Micro
Nano and Molecular Systems Lab overcame these restrictions by
fabricating a new kind of magnetic nanopropeller. The Stuttgart
scientists succeeded in growing nanostructures with magnetic properties
that outperform the strongest known micromagnets (NdFeB), yet are
chemically stable and biocompatible. These new nanopropellers are based
on the iron platinum "L10" alloy, and are very promising because they
combine everything real-world applications would require for magnetic
targeting.
These excellent magnetic
properties of iron platinum materials were previously achieved by the
Modern Magnetic Systems Department at the MPI-IS, which is led by Gisela
Schütz. “We succeeded in producing FePt nanomagnets that are about 50 %
stronger than the world’s best neodymium compounds,” says Schütz.
Teaming up with the Micro Nano and Molecular Systems Lab, they developed
a fabrication method for FePt nanopropellers using the specialized
high-vacuum nanofabrication method "Glancing Angle Deposition"
(GLAD) followed by an annealing step at close to 700 degrees. As with
previous projects, GLAD enabled the simultaneous fabrication of billions
of nanorobots in just a few hours, making this an easily scalable
process.
With the support of
biologists Maximiliano Gutierrez and Claudio Bussi from the Francis
Crick Institute and bioengineer Andrew Holle from the Max Planck
Institute for Medical Research, the team then showed that the non-toxic
propellers enable active gene delivery. They coated the propellers with
DNA coding for green fluorescent protein. The propellers transported the
DNA inside lung carcinoma cells which then started emitting green
light. The researchers were able to precisely steer propellers through
the cell media surrounding the cells. Due to the hard-magnetic
properties, which rival those of strong NdFeB micromagnets, the
propellers are the fastest ever created in the Micro Nano and Molecular
Systems Lab and reach speeds of 13 propeller lengths per second.
Figure: Two micrometer long
and 500 Nanometer wide iron-platinum nanopropellers (left) enable
genetic modification of cells, which then start expressing green
fluorescing protein (right).
Vincent Kadiri is the first author of the highly interdisciplinary research project “Biocompatible magnetic micro- and nanodevices: Fabrication of FePt nanopropellers and cell transfection”,
which was published in Advanced Materials on 6th May 2020. He expects
that iron-platinum will also be adopted in the fabrication of other
micro and nanodevices. “I am very happy that we succeeded in
constructing biocompatible nanopropellers from FePt that outperform what
has so far been used in the field. It will be exciting to see the new
applications this will enable.” FePt shows great potential for use in
micro-robotics and a diverse range of biomedical applications.
Maximiliano Gutierrez, who studies the dangerous tuberculosis pathogen,
adds: “Biocompatible nanopropellers could represent a very smart
strategy to deliver antibiotics and tackle the problem of antimicrobial
resistance.”
No comments:
Post a Comment