Synthetic magnetic nanoparticles for remote-controlled stemcell therapies of neurodegenerative disorders

In the context of the MAGNEURON european project, we developed different types of magnetic nanoparticles that can act as nanoactuators to manipulate intracellular proteins involved in signaling pathways.

Four types of particles are presented here. First, size-sorted maghemite cores of different diameter (8 to 20 nm) were synthesized. Then these cores were used to make Fe2O3@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles that are colloidally stable and easy to functionalize, and poly(acrylic acid) coated nanoparticles. Both types of particles can be rendered fluorescent by the addition of a fluorophore. Finally, we also developed a way to synthesize micro-needles made of aligned maghemite cores encapsulated in a silica layer.

In this dataset are presented some electron microscopy images of the optimized particles and their characterizations in terms of sizes and magnetic properties. These particles have then been used by the other members of the Magneuron consortium in order to manipulate different intracellular signalling pathways.