PREPARATION OF FLUORESCENT, FUNCTIONALIZED, SILICA-COATED MAGNETIC NANOPARTICLES MARKED WITH MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES

Magnetic nanoparticles have been intensively studied for their potential applications in biomedicine. These magnetic nanoparticles are tested for in-vivo use, either in diagnosis as contrast agents for NMR imaging, or in therapy, for targeted drug delivery and for the treatment of cancer cells with magnetic hyperthermia. There are also many applications where these magnetic nanoparticles are used in-vitro, for example, in various types of bioseparations, cell sorting and purification, enzyme immobilization, and many others [1,2]. However, the properties of the magnetic nanoparticles need to be adapted for a specific application. The most important properties in the biomedical application of nanoparticles are their magnetic properties, size, biocompatibility and capacity for the selective binding of different molecules onto their surfaces [3]. For intravenous and intra-arterial applications, which are the most common for drug administration, magnetic nanoparticles of a suitable size are applied in the form of a stable aqueous suspension. For the preparation of a stable suspension, nanoparticles are expected to exhibit superparamagnetic properties in order to avoid inter-particle magnetic interactions that could cause agglomeration. Moreover, the nanoparticles should not be recognized by the immune system and eliminated from the blood