%0 Journal Article
%T Iron oxide-based nanomagnets in nanomedicine: fabrication and applications
%A Meng Meng Lin
%A Hyung-Hwan Kim
%A Hyuck Kim
%A Mamoun Muhammed
%J Nano Reviews
%D 2010
%I 
%R 10.3402/nano.v1i0.4883
%X Iron oxide-based nanomagnets have attracted a great deal of attention in nanomedicine over the past decade. Down to the nanoscale, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can only be magnetized in the presence of an external magnetic field, which makes them capable of forming stable colloids in a physio-biological medium. Their superparamagnetic property, together with other intrinsic properties, such as low cytotoxicity, colloidal stability, and bioactive molecule conjugation capability, makes such nanomagnets ideal in both in-vitro and in-vivo biomedical applications. In this review, a chemical, physical, and biological synthetic approach to prepare iron oxide-based nanomagnets with different physicochemical properties was illustrated and compared. The growing interest in iron oxide-based nanomagnets with multifunctionalities was explored in cancer diagnostics and treatment, focusing on their combined roles in a magnetic resonance contrast agent, hyperthermia, and magnetic force assisted drug delivery. Iron oxides as magnetic carriers in gene therapy were reviewed with a focus on the sophisticated design and construction of magnetic vectors. Finally, the iron oxide-based nanomagnet also represents a very promising tool in particle/cell interfacing in controlling cellular functionalities, such as adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, and cell patterning, in stem cell therapy and tissue engineering applications. Meng Meng Lin received a BSc in biotechnology at the University of Hong Kong, China in 2004 and an MSc in biomedical nanotechnology at Newcastle University, UK, in 2005. She is currently working toward her PhD at the Institute of Science and Technology in Medicine, Keele University, UK. She was a visiting student at the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, in 2006. Her research interests include nanoparticles preparation, cell/nanomaterials interface, and cancer-oriented drug delivery. Hyung-Hwan Kim received an MSc degree in chemistry from Korea University in 1998 and a PhD in oriental medicine from Kyung Hee University, Korea, in 2003. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Vascular Medicine Research Unit, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, in 2003. He has been working as an instructor at the Harvard Medical School since 2007 and is Vice Director of the International Research Center of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Jungwon University, Korea. His research interests include cells and signal pathways in vascular biology field. Hyuck Kim received a PhD in oriental medicine from Kyung Hee University, Korea, in 2004. He is curr
%K iron oxide
%K coprecipitation
%K thermal decomposition
%K microemulsion
%K magnetosome
%K lithography
%K cancer targeting
%K stem cell
%K gene delivery
%K tissue engineering
%K cell actuation
%U http://www.nano-reviews.net/index.php/nano/article/view/4883/5428