Tailoring SPIONs Through Polymer Coating Modifications for Cell Labeling and Tracking with MPI Hayden Good Authors: Hayden Good, Sitong Liu, Angelie Rivera-Rodriguez, Bo Yu, Carlos Rinaldi-Ramos Faculty Mentor: Carlos Rinaldi-Ramos, PhD College: College of Engineering Department: Chemical Engineering |
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AbstractT cells are being actively researched for therapeutic effects in cancer immunotherapies. Understanding T cell biodistribution allows researchers to evaluate efficacy of the treatment. Modalities to accurately identify and quantify cells are actively being improved, with primary focus being on the use of Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI). MPI addresses the need for quantitative identification of cells in vivo using magnetic nanoparticle tracers. These tracers produce a biorthogonal signal, allowing for unambiguous, direct quantification. Cells which have internalized these tracers will carry magnetic signal detected by the instrument, allowing researchers to identify cell biodistribution in a facile manner. This project takes advantage of coupling chemistries to coat MPI tracers to ligands and targeting moieties, for colloidal stability and cell targeting capabilities, respectively. We have demonstrated the ability to coat the tracers in poly(ethylene glycol), resulting in their colloidal stability in several liquid media, and the ability to attach additional ligands onto the surface of the nanoparticles. Our approach is versatile, taking advantage of simple chemistries to attach a wide array of targeting moieties to the nanoparticles, diversifying the possible applications of this cell tracing and imaging approach. Future studies will culture primary T cells with these tracers to label them, then administer labeled cells and/or SPIONs systemically, to demonstrate the ability to track cells over time and to evaluate the particles’ ability to label cells in situ, respectively.
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