Skip navigation

UCD Bionanoscience Research Group
Principal Investigator: Prof. Gil U. Lee
Research strands:
Superparamagnetic microparticles have been widely used for biological affinity separations (as described above) as they offer a simple and efficient method for the purification of cells, viruses, and macromolecules. The microparticles used in these applications need to be stable in water, uniform in size, and responsive to magnetic field gradients. The micron size paramagnetic particles that have been developed for these applications are typically composed of nanometer scale particles of maghemite (or magnetite) distributed in a polymer matrix. These particles are coated with a polymer that stabilizes them in aqueous solution and provide chemical groups to which proteins and polynucleotides can be conjugated. These magnetic particles have also been used in novel modes of drug delivery, in vivo imaging, analytical measurement, diagnosis and hyperthermia therapy.

This laboratory has developed several new techniques for synthesizing superparamagnetic particles composed of either an iron-gold nanorods and self-assembled iron oxide nanoparticles. In the latter, an emulsion templated, UV initiated polymerization scheme is used to form very high magnetization superparamagnetic microparticles. A unique property of this scheme is that the surface chemistry of the microparticles can be controlled by the adsorption of species from the aqueous phase of the emulsion into the particles before cross-linking. These particles have been commercialized by MagSense Life Sciences, Inc []