This  invention  implements  a  new method  of  simultaneous  detection  and  separation  of biological entities like specific cells, based on magnetic nanobeads of strictly controlled size. The nanobeads can be used  in a number of  biomedical  applications,  such  as  bioimaging,  bio-  and chemo-sensing, cell tracking and sorting,  bioseparation, drug delivery and therapy systems in nanomedicine, etc.
The  nanobeads  are made  of  aggregates  of  iron  oxide  nanoparticles  (IONPs)  enwrapped  within  an  amphiphillic  polymer  (Pc18)  to which  oligothiophene  fluorescents  (OTFs)  are  grafted;  their  size  is  selectable  in  the  range 30  to 400  nm. Additionally,  the  nanobeads are  functionalized with  a  variety  of molecules  for  detecting  specific  bio-targets  and  are easily dispersible  in  the  interaction medium with  cells or markers; therefore these nanobeads can be used  in a number of  biomedical  applications,  such  as  bioimaging,  bio-  and chemo-sensing, cell tracking and sorting, bioseparation, drug delivery and therapy systems in nanomedicine, etc.
The  fabrication  process  does  not  require  separate  steps  of clustering  iron  oxide  nanoparticles  and  of  fluorescent  coating of  these  clusters,  with  the  associated  difficulties  of  selection and separation, but a precise size with narrow dispersion of the complete nanobeads is achieved in a single step by easy control of  the  fabrication parameters.  These include  the shaking speed at which the polymer and the IONPs are mixed in a first solvent, the rate at which a solvent of different polarity  is added to the prepared mixture, and the polarity of solvents. The nanobeads are  highly  photostable,  as  the OTFs  are  shielded  by  the  Pc18 shell, have low toxicity, are fuorescence tunable due to the OTFs properties, can be easily conjugated to a variety of molecules to detect  specifc  bio-targets,  and  respond  quickly  to  a magnetic  field.

Patent  Application  No. TO2009A000169

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