By Dexter Johnson

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) havedeveloped a nanoparticle that enables both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as well as fluorescent imaging in living animals.  The researchers believe that a single nanoparticle capable of performing these two functions should be able to help track specific molecules through the body, monitor a tumor’s environment, and determine whether drugs have reached their intended target.

In research published in the journal Nature Communications, the MIT team combined an MRI contrasting agent called nitroxide and a fluorescent molecule called Cy5.5 to produce a nanostructure called a branched bottlebrush polymer. The ratio of the two materials in the nanoparticle is 99 percent nitroxide and 1 percent Cy5.5.  …[Read more]