Monday, December 28, 2009

Nano Level Magnetic Resonance Imaging May Reveal Smallest Life Processes

Filed under: Nanomedicine

Researchers at Cornell University and U.S. Military Academy are working hard on development of a method to detect the magnetic imbalance of nitroxides, stable organic compounds that have an unpaired electron. Nitroxides can be attached to other molecules, and so there's a possibility to track just about anything at the nano level.

By creating a sample of nitroxide molecules dissolved in a thin-film polymer and bringing the sample close to a 4-micron nickel magnet attached to a 350-nanometer silicon cantilever, they can detect the electron spin by measuring the frequency of the cantilever as it wobbles, like a diving board. The cantilever is similar to those used in scanning probe microscopy, a type of imaging that involves a cantilever scanning a surface and recording the probe-surface interactions.

To improve their frequency readouts and get more accurate measurements, the group must learn, among others things, how to make their magnets smaller, Marohn said [John Marohn, associate professor of chemistry].

Full story at Cornell Chronicle: Researchers are on the path to creating nano-MRI images...

Abstract in PNAS: Scanned-probe detection of electron spin resonance from a nitroxide spin probe

                (0)

Name:


Email Address
(will not be published):


URL:

Remember personal info?
(anonymous comments allowed)

Yes No

Comments:

Verification (needed to reduce spam):

Click the "Post" button only once!