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Nanotechnology aims for medical imaging all-in-one


One of medicine's greatest innovations is the ability to see inside the human body. With the help of a $1.1 million grant, UB scientists are aiming to combine several body-imaging technologies into a single nanoparticle, therefore improving current medical testing technology.

The grant was awarded to the UB Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics in order to advance research in a field of biotechnology that has developed many medical imaging techniques.

As part of the relatively new field of nanobiotechnology, the focus of the research is to combine two or more medical imaging techniques by combining the probes used in these procedures into one nanoparticle.

Doing so will allow the body to receive the reactive agents needed to process information in several different imaging techniques at one time. Doctors would also receive more comprehensive and in-depth analyses of a patient's condition.

"This development is meant to allow for easier and more efficient diagnosis of diseases, especially cancer," said Haridas Pudavar, Ph.D., assistant professor of research and co-investigator in the grant. "It is aimed to be brought into the routine clinical setting."

Nanoparticle technology will also be used to scan the effects of drugs and other treatments in real-time, allowing not only doctors but also pharmaceutical researchers a chance to make faster observations about a patient's current status that are more accurate.

The advantage of nanoparticle technology is that it prevents different probes roaming freely in to different part body, according to Tymish Ohulchanskyy, Ph.D., senior research assistant and co-investigator for the grant

"The probes are made with markers to target specific sites. They can be made disease specific or area specific," Ohulchanskyy said. "This helps the probes to not end up in a part of the body where they don't need to be."

Nanoparticles will be used in addition to with many other imaging techniques.

Optical imaging techniques use florescence and Raman scanning to view the molecular events that are the early signs of disease. Magnetic responsive imaging (MRI) uses fluorine nuclear probes to target specific biological sites. Positron emission tomography (PET) uses radioisotopes as contrast agents in determining the efficiency of drugs. Computed tomography (CT) and single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT) use special ions to improve imaging.

"With a single injection of the nanoparticle a patient can undergo MRI, PET and CT/SPECT scans," said Indrasit Roy, Ph.D, Postdoctoral Fellow and Co-Investigator for the grant. "Nanoparticle technology has been used separately in many bio-applications, and now several of them are being packaged into one."

Research by postdoctoral fellows and graduate students will also be supported under this grant. The John R. Oishei Foundation, which was established in 1940, supports Buffalo hospitals and schools.

Oishei, who founded the Trico Products Corporation, one of the world's leading manufacturers of windshield wiper systems, was devoted to serving the cultural and social needs of the Buffalo community.





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