The present invention provides a method of detecting microbubbles in a vessel of an affected part, comprising aggregating the microbubbles, acquiring phase-contrast magnetic resonance images and analyzing the phase-contrast magnetic resonance images. Thus, the present invention can detect or monitor the size and location of MBs in vessels of any part of body.

Disclosed embodiments are directed to a method and system for remotely imaging electric fields from living tissues.

Blood-brain barrier permeable peptide compositions that contain variable antigen binding domains from camelid and/or shark heavy-chain only single-domain antibodies are described. The variable antigen binding domains of the peptide compositions bind to therapeutic and diagnostic biomarkers in the central nervous system, such as the amyloid-beta peptide biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. The peptide compositions contain constant domains from human IgG, camelid IgG, and/or shark IgNAR. The peptide compositions include heavy-chain only single-domain antibodies and compositions with one or more variable antigen binding domain bound to one or more constant domains.

A magnetic nanoparticle includes a magnetic core and a superparamagnetic outer shell, in which the outer shell enhances magnetic properties of the nanoparticle. The enhanced magnetic properties of the magnetic nanoparticle allow for highly sensitive detection as well as diminished non-specific aggregation of nanoparticles.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing beads comprising imaging agent. The present invention further provides beads highly useful for medical imaging.

The present disclosure, among other things, provides a composition of a particle including a substrate; at least a first condensation layer comprising at least a first dopant entity; and at least a second layer comprising a second dopant entity. In some embodiments, different dopant entities are included in different layers. In some embodiments, such dopant entities are or comprise detectable entities. This, in some embodiments, provided technologies achieve multi-modality particles. Among the many advantages of provided technologies include the ability to image particles by a plurality of distinct imaging modalities and/or in a plurality of contexts (e.g., pre-surgical, intraoperative and/or post-surgical environments). The present invention provides methods that include a single administration of particles to a subject, followed by a plurality of steps that comprise imaging the administered particles, which steps may utilize different imaging technologies and/or be performed at different times and/or in different environments.

A low temperature, aqueous synthesis of polyhedral iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) is presented. The modification of the co-precipitation hydrolysis method with Triton X surfactants results in the formation of crystalline polyhedral particles. The particles are herein termed iron oxide nanobricks (IONBs), as the varieties of particles made are all variations on a simple brick-like, polyhedral shape such as rhombohedral shape or parallelogram as evaluated by TEM. These IONBs can be easily coated with hydrophilic silane ligands, allowing them to be dispersed in aqueous media. The dispersed particles are investigated for potential applications as hyperthermia and T.sub.2 MRI contrast agents. The results demonstrate that the IONBs perform better than comparable spherical IONPs in both applications, and show r.sub.2 values amongst the highest for iron oxide based materials reported in the literature.

The present invention relates to Tau-specific antibodies, fragments thereof, and uses thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to Tau-specific antibodies, fragments thereof, and conjugates thereof with conjugated to a superparamagnetic nanoparticle. The molecules of the present invention may be used in visualizing damage from traumatic brain injury.

The invention relates to a ligand compound having a structure A-B-C, wherein (a) A represents a mono- or polyphosphorylated amino acid linked to part B by its amino group to form an amide bond; B represents (i) a carboxylic acid, and (ii) an amino acid or peptidyl group of 2-10 amino acids, an alkyl or alkenyl group comprising 1-26 carbon atoms, a polyethylene glycol group comprising 1-26 carbon atoms or a combination thereof covalently linked to the carboxylic acid; and C represents a hydrophilic group covalently linked to the group of B (ii) or (b) A represents a mono-or polyphosphorylated amino acid linked to B by its carboxylic acid to form an amide bond; B represents an amino acid or peptidyl group of 2-10 amino acids, an amino substituted alkyl or alkenyl group comprising 1-26 carbon atoms, an amino substituted polyethylene glycol group comprising 1-26 carbon atoms or a combination thereof covalently linked to A by their amino group; C represents a hydrophilic group covalently linked to the group of B. The invention further relates to a coated metal nanoparticle such as super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle (SPIONs) coated with a plurality of the aforementioned ligands and a method of producing thereof.

Disclosed herein are iron oxide nanoparticles having an iron (II) content in a metastable state that is intermediate the iron (II) content of wstite and magnetite. The disclosed iron oxide nanoparticles exhibit unexpectedly beneficial magnetic properties (e.g., saturation magnetization) resulting from both the size of the nanoparticles and the iron (II) content. Accordingly, the iron oxide nanoparticles are attractive for magnetic imaging applications, such as magnetic particle imaging. Methods of forming the iron oxide nanoparticles are also provided, such methods including a controlled oxidation step wherein a small amount (e.g., 1%) of gaseous oxygen is exposed to wstite nanoparticles for a defined period of time sufficient to partially oxidize the wstite but prevent conversion entirely to magnetite. Finally, methods of using the iron oxide nanoparticles are also provided. Representative methods include magnetic particle imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and hyperthermia.