The research involving magnetic nanoparticles was initially fuelled by the patented magnetic photocatalyst developed by the group in 1999. Since then, the research in the area of magnetic nanoparticles has grown rapidly and evolved into development of functionalised magnetic nanoparticles for selective bioseparation and biotransformation, sensors, as well as for bioimaging and gene delivery. The research have attracted many collaborations such as Prof Justin Gooding (Chemistry, UNSW), Dr Chris Marquis and Dr Bettina Rosche (BABS, UNSW), Dr Cyrille Boyer (CAMD, UNSW), A/Prof Phillips O’Connell (Westmead Hospital) and many others.

Currently there are a number of projects being carried out in the centre with the overall aim to develop new materials using magnetic nanoparticles for a wide range of applications such as drug/gene delivery, sensing and bioimaging.

Drug/gene delivery applications:

The project combines the use of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, polyethylenimine, and DNA as gene delivery agent (vector).  Investigation on the cellular entry mechanism, intracellular process, and implication to cell viability of different vector component assembly.

Selected publications from this work:

• Arsianti, M., Lim, M, Marquis, C., Amal, R.(2010) “Assembly of Polyethylenimine-Based Magnetic Iron Oxide Vectors: Insights into Gene Delivery”, Langmuir, 26(10), 7314-7326
• Arsianti, M., Lim, M., Marquis, C.P., and Amal, R. (2010), “Polyethylenimine based Magnetic Iron-Oxide Vector: The Effect of Vector Component Assembly on Cellular Entry Mechanism, Intracellular Localization, and Cellular Viability”, Biomacromolecules, 11(9), 2521-2531
• Arsianti, M., Lim, M., Shi, N.L., Goon, I.Y., Marquis, C.P., and Amal, R. (2011) “Bi-Functional Gold-Coated Magnetite Composites with Improved Biocompatibility”, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 354(2), 536-545

Investigators:

May Lim
Rose Amal
Christopher Marquis