Microneedle patches have been developed that can be used to deliver therapeutic, prophylactic, diagnostic agents and/or dyes to the skin. The microneedles encapsulate the agent(s) to be delivered. These are formed of a biodegradable polymer that dissolves upon insertion into skin or tissue, so that the microneedles break off from the substrate forming the patch, remaining in the skin/tissue at the site of insertion. The patches are used to create a tattoo or to deliver therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic agent in combination with a tattoo. In one embodiment, the microneedle patch contains both vaccine and dye pigments to administer vaccine and record such administration in one application of the microneedle patch.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of nanoparticle composites that comprise covalently coupled stabilizing agent molecules that improve stability of the nanoparticle composites and allow for tight packing of lipids and/or membranes. The nanoparticle composites can further comprise inhibition inhibitors and/or lipid components that interact to form a hybrid lipid bilayer membrane around the nanoparticle core. The nanoparticle composites can be coupled to drugs, targeting moieties, and imaging moieties. The nanoparticle composites can be used for in vivo drug deliver, disease diagnosis/treatment, and imaging.

Provided herein is a nanoparticle comprising a metal core and a polymer shell coating the metal core useful as a magnetic resonance contrast agent.

Provided is a nanoparticulate composite with two layers. One of the layers comprises one or more metals, which are a paramagnetic metal, a ferromagnetic metal, or a superparamagnetic metal. This layer also contains one or more suitable dopants. The other layer comprises one or more metals of gadolinium, manganese (II), and iron (III), in the form of an oxide or a fluoride. This layer may contain one or more lanthanide dopants. The nanoparticulate composite may be used as a contrast agent, in particular in magnetic resonance imaging.

The present invention provides nanoparticles including a metallic core having a length along each axis of from 1 to 100 nanometers and a coating disposed on at least part of the surface of the metallic core, wherein the coating comprises polydopamine, along with methods for making and using such nanoparticles. The metallic core may be gold, silver or iron oxide and the polydopamine coating may have other substances bound to it, such as silver, targeting ligands or antibodies, or other therapeutic or imaging contrast agents. The disclosed nanoparticles can be targeted to cells for treating cancer or bacterial infections, and for use in diagnostic imaging.

A system for aerating a marker material. The system includes a first container, a second container, and an aeration connector. The aeration connector includes a body and a screen disk disposed within the body. The first container is in communication with the second container via the aeration connector. The screen disk of the aeration connector is configured to aerate a marker material as the marker material is repeatedly passed between the first container and the second container.

Disclosed herein are gelatin particles that have been crosslinked without using a crosslinking agent and are easily taken up by cells themselves, and a method for producing such gelatin particles. The gelatin particles are made of self-crosslinked gelatin and have a particle diameter of 0.010 m or more but 5.0 m or less. The gelatin particles can be produced by discharging droplets of a liquid containing melted gelatin into air in a heating tube or a drying chamber and drying the droplets to form the gelatin into particles under conditions where a difference between the temperature in the heating tube or the drying chamber and the temperature of the liquid is 235 C. or less and further by crosslinking the gelatin forming the particles.

The present invention relates to reverse-micellar systems comprising at least an active agent, an acylglycerol, a sterol, lecithin, ethanol and water, for use in chelation and/or sequestering of a radionuclide and/or a metal in a patient. The invention also relates to the reverse-micellar systems and to pharmaceutical compositions comprising said reverse-micellar systems.

The present invention relates to the fluorescent conjugate of hyaluronic acid containing cypate or salts thereof, the hydrophobized conjugate, methods of the preparation and use thereof in medicinal applications for in vivo imaging and the treatment of neoplasms.

The invention discloses nanoparticles comprising compounds of calcium with anions such as phosphate, pyrophosphate, sulphate, silicate, carbonate, molybdate, or phosphosilicate that are doped with various ions. The nanoparticles are configured to produce heat (hyperthermia) under radio-wave (1 KHz-1000 GHz) exposure together with magnetism suitable for contrast imaging in MRI, X-ray absorption for computed tomography, near-infrared optical fluorescence for optical imaging, and/or radio-isotope emission for nuclear imaging or therapy. The nanoparticles can also be incorporated into micro-beads or other 3 dimensional scaffolds for image-guided (MRI, CT, NIR, nuclear) tissue regeneration, immunotherapy, vascular or tumor embolization, and/or chemo/radio-embolization.