TY - JOUR A1 - Reichel, V. E. A1 - Matuszak, J. A1 - Bente, Klaas A1 - Heil, T. A1 - Kraupner, A. A1 - Dutz, S. A1 - Cicha, I. A1 - Faivre, D. T1 - Magnetite-Arginine Nanoparticles as a Multifunctional Biomedical Tool N2 - Iron oxide nanoparticles are a promising platform for biomedical applications, both in terms of diagnostics and therapeutics. In addition, arginine-rich polypeptides are known to penetrate across cell membranes. Here, we thus introduce a system based on magnetite nanoparticles and the polypeptide poly-l-arginine (polyR-Fe3O4). We show that the hybrid nanoparticles exhibit a low cytotoxicity that is comparable to Resovist®, a commercially available drug. PolyR-Fe3O4 particles perform very well in diagnostic applications, such as magnetic particle imaging (1.7 and 1.35 higher signal respectively for the 3rd and 11th harmonic when compared to Resovist®), or as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (R2/R1 ratio of 17 as compared to 11 at 0.94 T for Resovist®). Moreover, these novel particles can also be used for therapeutic purposes such as hyperthermia, achieving a specific heating power ratio of 208 W/g as compared to 83 W/g for Feridex®, another commercially available product. Therefore, we envision such materials to play a role in the future theranostic applications, where the arginine ability to deliver cargo into the cell can be coupled to the magnetite imaging properties and cancer fighting activity. KW - Iron oxide KW - Nanoparticle KW - Theranostics KW - MRI KW - Hyperthermia PY - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-515993 VL - 10 IS - 10 SP - 2014 PB - MDPI AN - OPUS4-51599 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bachmann, F. A1 - Bente, Klaas A1 - Codutti, A. A1 - Faivre, D. T1 - Using Shape Diversity on the Way to Structure-Function Designs for Magnetic Micropropellers N2 - Synthetic microswimmers mimicking biological movements at the microscale have been developed in recent years. Actuating helical magnetic materials with a homogeneous rotating magnetic field is one of the most widespread techniques for propulsion at the microscale, partly because the actuation strategy revolves around a simple linear relationship between the actuating field frequency and the propeller velocity. However, full control of the swimmers’ motion has remained a challenge. Increasing the controllability of micropropellers is crucial to achieve complex actuation schemes that, in turn, are directly relevant for numerous applications. However, the simplicity of the linear relationship limits the possibilities and flexibilities of swarm control. Using a pool of randomly shaped magnetic microswimmers, we show that the complexity of shape can advantageously be translated into enhanced control. In particular, directional reversal of sorted micropropellers is controlled by the frequency of the actuating field. This directionality change is linked to the balance between magnetic and hydrodynamic forces. We further show an example of how this behavior can experimentally lead to simple and effective sorting of individual swimmers from a group. The ability of these propellers to reverse swimming direction solely by frequency increases the control possibilities and is an example for propeller designs, where the complexity needed for many applications is embedded directly in the propeller geometry rather than external factors such as actuation sequences. KW - Active Matter KW - Low Reynolds number swimmers KW - Actuating materials KW - Microstructure KW - Swarming PY - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.11.034039 VL - 11 IS - 3 SP - 034039 PB - American Physical Society AN - OPUS4-47731 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -