Tag: SPIONs

Congratulations to Elisa Carenza for the Extraordinay PhD Award!

Written by Anna May on October 17, 2016. Posted in Awards and scholarships, News.

We congratulate Elisa Carenza, who has been awarded with the Extraordinary PhD Award (Premi Extraordinari de Doctorat) for her thesis entitled “Engineering iron oxide nanoparticles for angiogenic therapies“.

Elisa carried out her PhD here at ICMAB, within the N&N Group, and in collaboration with Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), under the supervision of Anna Roig (ICMAB) and Anna Rosell (VHIR), in the framework of the UAB PhD program.

The awards ceremony will take place on November 18, 2016, at 6.30 pm, at Hotel Campus (Edifici Blanc).

Elisa is now working in a startup biopharmaceutical company (Addex Therapeutics) in Geneva (Switzerland), which develops new molecules for the treatment of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and epilepsy. Elisa is investigating the effects of these molecules in humans, in different Clinical Research studies.

Congratulations Elisa!

More information about the Extraordinary PhD award resolution here.
The thesis can be found in the UAB Digital Document Repository : http://ddd.uab.cat/record/128025

Anna Roig at the HINT COST Action Final Meeting in Aveiro, Portugal

Written by Anna May on October 9, 2016. Posted in Conferences, News.

The Final Meeting of the COST Action on Hybrid Interfaces (HINT) will take place on October 10-12, 2016, at the Reitoria building of the University of Aveiro, Portugal. The meeting aims at sharing the learned lessons on design, control, and dynamics of interfaces in hybrid organic-inorganic materials over the last four years in which the different partners have worked on this topics.

Anna Roig will participate in the meeting and will give a talk on “Bio-screening of protein coated SPIONs: in vitro and in vivo by the C. elegans model” (Monday, October 10, 5.40 pm).

For more information on the agenda, please visit the conference webiste: http://costhint.web.ua.pt/

Inside cover in Nanoscale, Issue 30, Volume 8, 2016

Written by Anna May on August 22, 2016. Posted in New publications, News.

Good news! One of our last published articles in Nanoscale was the main star of the inside cover of the journal (Issue 30, Volume 8, 2016).

Hot off the press: New article accepted in Acta Biomaterialia!

Written by Anna May on July 20, 2016. Posted in New publications, News.

The article “Bio-identity and fate of albumin-coated SPIONs evaluated in cells and by the C. elegans model” (Si-Ming Yu, Laura González-Moragas, Maria Milla, Androniki Kolovou, Rachel Santarella-Mellwig, Yannick Schwab, Anna Laromaine, Anna Roig) is now published online in Acta Biomaterialia at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S174270611630349X.
doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2016.07.024.

Abstract: Nanoparticles, whose surface adsorbs proteins in an uncontrolled and non-reproducible manner will have limited uses as nanomedicinal products. A promising approach to avoid nanoparticle non-specific interactions with proteins is to design bio-hybrids by purposely pre-forming a protein corona around the inorganic cores. Here, we investigate, in vitro and in vivo, the newly acquired bio-identity of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) upon their functionalization with a pre-formed and well-defined bovine serum albumin (BSA) corona. Cellular uptake, intracellular particle distribution and cytotoxicity were studied in two cell lines: adherent and non-adherent cells. BSA decreases nanoparticle internalization in both cell lines and protects the iron core once they have been internalized. The physiological response to the nanoparticles is then in vivo evaluated by oral administration to Caenorhabditis elegans, which was selected as a model of a functional intestinal barrier. Nanoparticle biodistribution, at single particle resolution, is studied by transmission electron microscopy. The analysis reveals that the acidic intestinal environment partially digests uncoated SPIONs but does not affect BSA-coated ones. It also discloses that some particles could enter the nematode’s enterocytes, likely by endocytosis which is a different pathway than the one described for the worm nutrients.

Keywords: Iron oxide nanoparticles; Protein corona; Cytotoxicity; C. elegans; Biodistribution.

Congratulations to all the authors!

Anna Roig at the Faraday Discussions Conference in Glasgow

Written by Anna May on July 4, 2016. Posted in Conferences, News.

Anna Roig will present the work “Gold nanotriangles decorated with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: a compositional and microstructural study” (Jordan A. Hachtel, Siming Yu, Andrew R. Lupini, Sokrates T. Pantelides, Marti Gich, Anna Laromaine and Anna Roig) at the Faraday Discussions Conference: Nanoparticles with Morphological and Functional Anisotropy.

The Faraday Discussions Conference will take place in Glasgow, from July 4th-6th. The program of the event is found here. Speakers at the conference include:

Catherine J. Murphy, University of Illinois, United States
Younan Xia, Georgia Institute of Technology, United States
Eugenia Kumacheva, University of Toronto , Canada
Nicholas A. Kotov, University of Michigan, United States
Bernie Binks, University of Hull, United Kingdom
Steve Granick, IBS Center for Soft and Living Matter, South Korea
Jan Vermant, ETH Zurich, Czech Republic
Irene Yarovsky, RMIT University, Australia
Clement Sanchez, College de France, UPMC, CNRS, France

It is a great opportunity to discuss this work and other related topics with some of the top scientists on this field! We hope Anna brings back some new ideas to the N&N Group!

Hot off the press at Nanoscale!

Written by Anna Roig on May 25, 2016. Posted in New publications, News.

Albumin-coated SPIONs: An experimental and theoretical evaluation of protein conformation, binding affinity, and competition with serum proteins, by Siming Yu, Alex Perálvarez-Marín, Caterina Minelli, Jordi Faraudo, Anna Roig* and Anna Laromaine*, has just been accepted for publication in Nanoscale, DOI: 10.1039/C6NR01732K.

Among inorganic nanoparticles, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) show great promise for medicine. In this work, we study in detail the formation, composition, and structure of a monolayer of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on SPIONs. We determine, both by molecular simulations and experimentally, that ten molecules of BSA form a monolayer of BSA around the SPIONs and their binding strength to the SPIONs is about 3.5×10^–4 M, ten times higher than the adsorption of fetal bovine serum (FBS) on the same SPIONs. We elucidate a strong electrostatic interaction between BSA and the SPIONs, although the secondary structure of the protein is not affected. We present data that supports the strong binding of the BSA layer on SPIONs and the properties of the BSA layer as a protein-resistant coating. We believe that a complete understanding of the behavior and morphology of BSA-SPIONs and how the protein interacts with SPIONs is crucial for improving NP surface design and expanding the potential applications of SPIONs in nanomedicine.

Hot off the press: accepted manuscript in Faraday Discussions!

Written by Anna May on March 11, 2016. Posted in New publications, News.

We are very happy to announce that the manuscript “Gold nanotriangles decorated with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: a compositional and microstructural study“ (J.A. Hachtela, S. Yuc , A.R. Lupini, S.T. Pantelidesa, M. Gich, A. Laromaine, A. Roig, DOI: 10.1039/C6FD00028B) has been accepted by the Faraday Discussions journal.

The manuscript will be presented and discussed at a forthcoming Faraday Discussions meeting, this next summer. During the meeting, all delegates will be able to contribute to the debate, which will be included in the final volume. This will be a great opportunity to discuss the formation mechanism of the magnetic gold nanotriangles with some experts on this field.

The combination of iron oxide and gold in a single nanoparticle results in both magnetic and plasmonic properties that can stimulate novel applications in bio-sensing, medical imaging, or therapeutics. Microwave heating method allows the fabrication of multi-component, multi-functional nanostructures by promoting selective heating at desired sites. Recently, we reported a microwave-assisted polyol route yielding gold nanotriangles decorated with iron oxide nanoparticles (1). Here, we present an in-depth microstructural and compositional characterization of the system by using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and electron energy loss (EELS) spectroscopy. A method to remove the iron oxide nanoparticles from the gold nanocrystals and some insights on crystal nucleation and growth mechanisms are also provided.

Figure: (a) Schematic representation of the synthesis route. (b) HRTEM image of a Au NH-SPIONs and a Au NT-SPIONs. Characterization of the heterostructures: (c) UV-Vis-NIR spectra. (d) Hydrodynamic diameter of the Au-SPIONS measured by DLS. (e) Magnetization curve up to 6 T at 5K.

(1) Magnetic gold nanotriangles by microwave polyol synthesis (S.M. Yu, J.A. Hachtel, M.F. Chisholm, S.T. Pantelides, A. Laromaine, A. Roig; Nanoscale 2015, 7, 14039-14046. DOI: 10.1039/C5NR03113C).

Paper in collaboration with ICN2 in RSC Advances

Written by Anna Roig on October 23, 2015. Posted in New publications, News.

Dual T1/T2 MRI contrast agent based on hybrid SPION@coordination polymer nanoparticles

The study by M. Borges, S. Yu, A. Laromaine, A. Roig, S. Súarez-García, J. Lorenzo,D. Ruiz-Molina and F. Novio* has just been published in RSC Advances 2015, 5, 86779–86783.

The paper reports a novel hybrid T1/T2 dual MRI contrast agent by the encapsulation of SPIONs (T2 contrast agent) into an iron-based coordination polymer with T1-weighted signal. This new hybrid material presents improved relaxometry and low cytotoxicity, which make it suitable for its use as contrast agent for MRI.

Paper Accepted in ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering

Written by Anna Roig on September 29, 2015. Posted in New publications.

Protective effects of Bovine Serum Albumin on superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles evaluated in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Laura Gonzalez-Moragas, Si-Ming Yu, Elisa Carenza, Anna Laromaine*, Anna Roig

Nanomaterials have unique biological reactivity that need to be thoroughly investigated. In this context, the use of simple in vivo models to biologically evaluate nanoparticles is currently in increasing demand as they offer low-cost and information-rich experiments. In this work, we evaluated how surface modification (citrate and protein-coated) of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles induces changes in their toxicological profile and biodistribution using the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans and combining techniques from materials science and biochemistry.

Publication at Nanoscale: Magnetic gold nanotriangles by microwave-assisted polyol synthesis

Written by Anna Roig on September 14, 2015. Posted in New publications, News.

Siming Yu,^a Jordan A. Hachtel,^b^c Matthew F. Chisholm,^c Sokrates T. Pantelides,^b^c Anna Laromaine*^a and Anna Roig*^a

Nanoscale, 2015,7, 14039-14046, DOI: 10.1039/C5NR03113C
Received 12 May 2015, Accepted 16 Jul 2015, First published online 21 Jul 2015

Simple approaches to synthesize hybrid nanoparticles with magnetic and plasmonic functionalities, with high control of their shape and avoiding cytotoxic reactants, to target biomedical applications remain a huge challenge. Here, we report a facile, fast and bio-friendly microwave-assisted polyol route for the synthesis of a complex multi-material consisting of monodisperse gold nanotriangles around 280 nm in size uniformly decorated by superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles of 5 nm. These nanotriangles are readily dispersible in water, display a strong magnetic response (10 wt% magnetic fraction) and exhibit a localized surface plasmon resonance band in the NIR region (800 nm). Moreover, these hybrid particles can be easily self-assembled at the liquid–airinterfaces.