Nanomagnets Guide Stem Cells to Damaged Tissue

This article was about how the UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging has been working on ways to use a iron-containing clinical agent to tag stem cells that can be used in fixing arterial or other cardiovascular problems. The magnets used are of nano-size. The reason iron is used to tag these cells, is because the cells are then targeted to the site of interest using a magnet outside of the body. This allows for very specified and controlled, localized delivery of the stem cells. Researchers also found a way to use already approved MRI imaging techniques to see and follow the cell as it is being targeted.

In addition to all this, another positive aspect of this research is that it already is using FDA approved material, so clinical trials in humans could begin very soon (3-5 years).

An exciting aspect of this research is that it is not limited to the localizing cells. This same method could be used to either localize antibodies or kill cancerous tumors.

I found that this article was very interesting because it shows all the possibilities that are available using this one method. The fact that it is a nano-sized magnet also applies to our class and device design project. I thought it was very fascinating that the nano-research going on in the labs are close to starting clinical trials in humans and that these devices might actually come onto the market very soon. I also thought it was exciting that this same method could be used in a variety of different scenarios and that you could watch the cell or tagged object actually being moved around using a MRI machine. The possibilities with the use of nanomagnets seems endless at this stage of research.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090817190640.htm