Magneto-fluorescent core-shell supernanoparticles

Magneto-fluorescent particles have been recognized as an emerging class of materials that exhibit great potential in advanced applications. However, synthesizing such magneto-fluorescent nanomaterials that simultaneously exhibit uniform and tunable sizes, high magnetic content loading, maximized fluorophore coverage at the surface and a versatile surface functionality has proven challenging. Here we report a simple approach for co-assembling magnetic nanoparticles with fluorescent quantum dots to form colloidal magneto-fluorescent supernanoparticles. Importantly, these supernanoparticles exhibit a superstructure consisting of a close-packed magnetic nanoparticle ‘core’, which is fully surrounded by a ‘shell’ of fluorescent quantum dots. A thin layer of ​silica coating provides high colloidal stability and biocompatibility, and a versatile surface functionality. We demonstrate that after surface pegylation, these ​silica-coated magneto-fluorescent supernanoparticles can be magnetically manipulated inside living cells while being optically tracked. Moreover, our ​silica-coated magneto-fluorescent supernanoparticles can also serve as an in vivo multi-photon and magnetic resonance dual-modal imaging probe.
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (5-U54-CA151884)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (R01-CA126642)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (W911NF-13-D-0001))
United States. Dept. of Energy (DE-FG02-07ER46454)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laser Biomedical Research Center 9-P41-EB015871-26A1)
United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Award DE-SC0001088)
United States. Dept. of Defense (Breast Cancer Research Innovator Award W81XWH-10-1-0016))
Human Frontier Science Program (Strasbourg, France) (Grant RGP0005/2007)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (R01-DA028299)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (R01-NS076462)
European Molecular Biology Organization (Long-term Fellowship)