2009•Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIERequires access
Magnetic nanoparticles and nanotubes for biomedical applications
Linfeng Chen, Jining Xie, Justin Yancey, Malathi Srivatsan, Vijay K. Varadan
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Abstract
Magnetic nanomaterials, especially nanoparticles and nanotubes, are among the most widely used nanomaterials for biomedical applications, and they are also the most promising nanomaterials for clinical treatments. This paper starts with the fundamentals for nanomedicine and magnetic nanomedicine. After discussing the basic requirements for the biomedical applications, the properties and the biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles and nanotubes are discussed. Our results indicate that, with suitable functionalization, iron oxide nanomaterials are non-toxic to biological systems, and they are ideal drug carriers which can be remotely controlled by external magnetic fields. At the final part of this paper, the challenges and our approach for targeted drug delivery with controlled release are discussed.