| The objective of my research work is to synthesize, characterize, design, and apply nanocrystals for biomedical use.; Gold nanoparticles were synthesized in the presence of chitosan via reduction of HAuCl4 with sodium borohydride. The average particle size of gold nanoparticles was significantly affected with the concentration of chitosan added and was ranged between 5 and 30 nm. The gold-chitosan nanocomposites were formed by adsorbing chitosan molecules on the gold nanoparticles.; CdSe/ZnS quantum dots were prepared by a solution phase synthetic method. A new route for the phase transfer of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots from non-polar solvents into aqueous solution was developed using hydrophobically modified polysaccharides, both chitosan and alginate. In addition, it was shown that CdSe/ZnS based polysaccharide nanoparticles effectively inhibited the proliferation of human ovarian cancer cell line SKOV-3 in vitro. The findings suggest that CdSe/ZnS quantum dot based polysaccharide nanoparticles not only act as a long-term biomarker but also have potential value in cancer therapy.; A novel method for extracting magnetite nanoparticles from magnetotactic bacteria was developed by using co-surfactant. The problem of mass cultivation was solved by growing AMB-1 in Ca2+-alginate microbeads. To apply magnetotactic bacterial in biomedical applications, uptake of chitosan-capped CdSe/ZnS quantum dots on magnetotactic bacteria and introducing fluorescent magnetotactic bacteria into mouse macrophage cells was achieved.; A general strategy is described which allows for constructing multifunctional magnetic nanocomposites based on bacterial magnetite nanoparticles. Specifically, core-shell structures of bacterial magnetite-CdSe ZnS and bacterial magnetite-gold nanocomplexes have been built in this way. Furthermore, design and synthesis multimodal contrast agents which are ultrasound and photoacoustic active are achieved by utilizing biocompatible gold nanorods self assembling on liquid perfluorocarbon particles. The probe is likely to provide richer information for a better understanding of the target and subsequent diagnosis.; In summary, nanocrystals including gold, CdSe ZnS quantum dots, and bacterial magnetite and nanocomplexes including bacterial magnetite-quantum dots, bacterial magnetite-gold, gold-perfluorocarbon, quantum dots-chitosan, and quantum dots-alginate were successful synthesized. Some potential applications of these nanoparticles and nanocomplexes in biomedical engineering are explored. |
