The laboratory employee met the research group of David Avnir, one of the most known experts in the field of sol-gel chemistry, professor at the Hebrew University, the co-director of the laboratory in St. Petersburg and read a report on his research of nanocomposites based on the sol-gel magnetite, methods for their synthesis and properties.
"We created a special synthesis scheme, and such conditions were chosen, thanks to which the materials are becoming highly-pure, highly stable in aqueous media without additional stabilizers, have a large surface area in the dry state and maintain a therapeutic effect. In addition, it was the first time we managed to put biomolecules in the magnetite nanoparticles and increase their stability," Andrey Drozdov says.
Currently, nanoparticles based on magnetite are of special interest to the scientific community: they are used in medicine for the treatment of various diseases and used during the magnetic resonance tomography (MRT), but the full potential of the substance has not yet been disclosed.
Today, there are only two oxide materials which are approved for parenteral administration, i.e. injections and inhalations: aluminum oxide and iron oxide. Magnetite nanoparticles belong to the second group. If you create a colloidal solution out of it and bring a magnet, a portion of the liquid will be attracted to the magnet. That is, in fact, it is a liquid magnet, a complex synthetic material, absolutely non-toxic for humans.
ITMO University's scientists do some developments already, which will allow the use of nanocomposites based on magnetite for the targeted delivery of certain substances to the necessary organs in the human body. The difficulty lies in the fact that the body weakens the strength of the magnetic field, therefore it becomes difficult to control the particles.
"Everyone knows that the immune system fights against foreign bodies entering the body, such as nanocomposites, for example. It was therefore decided that the next stage of our work is to slow down this process, so that the substance could be in the blood circulation for a long time. To do this you need to create a special coating for the particles which won't be extraneous for the body. We want our substance to assist the protein molecules to survive in the aggressive environments in the body. Until now, the problem has been that many chemical agents are simply incompatible with molecules of protein. But we have created a process for producing magnetic nanoparticles that allow their further interaction with the enzymes," the laboratory employee says.
Young scientist in collaboration with the leading experts from the Hebrew University Nanocenter conducted a detailed study of nanoparticles and responded to a number of important issues.
"We made some measurements of samples obtained in the course of the work in all areas of research. Now we have data that sheds light on the features of our materials and allows us to continue our research," Andrey Drozdov summarizes.