BACKGROUND Gold nanoparticles are useful tools for biological applications due to their attractive physical and chemical properties. Their applications can be further expanded when they are functionalized with biological molecules. The biological molecules not only provide the interfaces for interactions between nanoparticles and biological environment, but also contribute their biological func...

Calcium Fluoride (CaF2) based luminescent nanoparticles exhibit unique, outstanding luminescent properties, and represent promising candidates as nanoplatforms for theranostic applications. There is an urgent need to facilitate their further development and applications in diagnostics and therapeutics as a novel class of nanotools. Here, in this critical review, we outlined the recent significa...

Multifunctional nanomaterials showed great advantages in drug delivery. Folic acid (FA) binding protein, a glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol anchored cell surface receptor for folate, is overexpressed in several human tumors, whereas it is highly restricted in normal tissues. Therefore, in this study, FA, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and Fe3O4 nanoparticles multifunctionalized short multiwall carbon...

We report the preparation of a kind of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) tags and explore their applications in multifunctional optical imaging of cancer cells. The proposed nanoparticles (SERS tags) are prepared by connecting dye molecules directly onto the surfaces of gold nanorods through Au-S or Au-N interactions. The dye molecules are used as Raman reporters, while gold nanorods are...

MRI is one of the most important imaging tools in clinics. It interrogates nuclei of atoms in a living subject, providing detailed delineation with high spatial and temporal resolutions. To compensate the innate low sensitivity, MRI contrast probes were developed and widely used. These are typically paramagnetic or superparamagnetic materials, functioning by reducing relaxation times of nearby ...

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) optical nanoprobes offer a number of advantages for ultrasensitive analyte detection. These functionalized colloidal nanoparticles are a multifunctional assay component. providing a platform for conjugation to spectral tags, stabilizing polymers, and biorecognition elements such as aptamers or antibodies. We demonstrate the design and characterization of...

Accurate diagnosis of tumors needs much detailed information. However, available single imaging modality cannot provide complete or comprehensive data. Nanomedicine is the application of nanotechnology to medicine, and multimodality imaging based on nanoparticles has been receiving extensive attention. This new hybrid imaging technology could provide complementary information from different ima...

Today cancer is one of the most life-threatening diseases in the world. The conventional cancer therapies, including surgery, chemo- and radiation therapies, have some disadvantages, such as limited efficiency and significant side effects. It is necessary to develop new therapeutic treatments. Herein, we integrated the targeted photocatalytic and chemotherapy in a multifunctional drug-delivery ...

Multifunctional coatings offer many advantages towards protecting various surfaces. Here we apply aggregation induced segregation of perylene diimide (PDI) to control the surface morphology and properties of silica nanoparticles. Differentially functionalized PDI was incorporated on the surface of silica nanoparticles through Si-O-Si bonds. The absorption and emission spectra of the resultant f...

BACKGROUND ZnO nanoparticles (grown in the template of folic acid) are biologically useful, luminescent material. It can be used for multifunctional purposes, e.g., as biosensor, bioimaging, targeted drug delivery and as growth promoting medicine. METHODS Sol-gel chemical method was used to develop the uniform ZnO nanoparticles, in a folic acid template at room temperature and pH ~ 7.5. Agglo...