Part of our work is devoted to the design, preparation and characterisation of magnetic and paramagnetic probes with improved performance in MRI and MH:

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• The field of multimodal imaging is one of the areas in which we are currently working. In recent years we have been particularly active in the field of dual T1-T2 MRI contrast agents, trying to understand how a paramagnetic moiety and a magnetic probe interact, and trying to predict the effect of this interaction in the final MR performance.

• Other area in which we have a deep interest is on the development of responsive systems. The idea here is to design and prepare probes able to modify their behaviour in response to a stimulus. Some of the stimulus we are working with are internal, such as the pH or redox potential inside a particular tissue, while others can be controlled externally, for example through the generation of an alternating magnetic field. Our final goal is to be able to design systems with increased specificity, reduced toxicity, and on-demand control.

• The design and characterisation of nanocomposites is another area of interest of the group. The combination of different materials into a single entity enable a better control of such systems. For example, the combination of imaging probes and drug delivery systems can enable a real-time monitoring of the therapeutic process.

• The generation of heat, the characterisation of this heat at the nanoscale, and the application of this heat as a switch or stimuli to trigger another process is another area of active research in the group.

• We are also focused on developing and validating different in vitro systems (in-flow, 3D...) to test all of our developments.

 

On these more fundamental projects we work beginning from the Material Science aspect, moving through the Physical Chemistry characterisation, and finishing on Organic Chemistry approaches to functionalise the nanostructures with bespoke molecules.