The present invention provides amphiphilic telodendrimers that aggregate to form nanocarriers characterized by a hydrophobic core and a hydrophilic exterior. The nanocarrier core may include amphiphilic functionality such as cholic acid or cholic acid derivatives, and the exterior may include branched or linear poly(ethylene glycol) segments. Nanocarrier cargo such as hydrophobic drugs and other materials may be sequester in the core via non-covalent means or may be covalently bound to the telodendrimer building blocks. Telodendrimer structure may be tailored to alter loading properties, interactions with materials such as biological membranes, and other characteristics.

Acoustically activatable particles having low vaporization energy and methods for making and using same are disclosed. A particle of material includes a first substance that includes at least one component that is a gas 25° C. and atmospheric pressure. A second substance, different from the first substance, encapsulates the first substance to create a droplet or emulsion that is stable at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. At least some of the first substance exists in a gaseous phase at the time of encapsulation of the first substance within the second substance to form a bubble. After formation of the bubble, the bubble is condensed into a liquid phase, which causes the bubble to transform into the droplet or emulsion having a core consisting of a liquid. The droplet or emulsion is an activatable phase change agent that remains a droplet having a core consisting of a liquid at 25° C. and atmospheric pressure. The first substance has a boiling point below 25° C. at atmospheric pressure.

A method for manufacturing a negatively charged supported lipid bilayer. The method comprises the steps of preparing a formulation comprising at least three lipids (1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-L-serine (DOPS), cholesterol and at least one lipid different from DOPS and cholesterol) dissolved in a first solvent, of evaporating the first solvent, of adding an aqueous formulation of mesoporous silica nanoparticles, of performing an ultra-sonication and of performing a centrifugation. The method is remarkable in that the number of equivalents of cholesterol relative to one equivalent of DOPS is comprised between 2.30 and 2.70. Additionally, negatively charged supported lipid bilayer on a mesoporous silica nanoparticle comprising cholesterol, 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-L-serine (DOPS) and at least one lipid different from DOPS and cholesterol.

The invention provides agents that target carbonic anhydrase, which can be used as imaging agents or therapeutic agents. The agents can be used to image tumor hypoxia as well as other physiological processes in a subject.

The present invention relates to contrast agent enhanced medical ultrasound imaging. In particular, the contrast agents provided are useful for cell imaging and cell therapy, as well as in vivo targeting, drug delivery and perfusion or vascular imaging applications. More specifically, it provides a particle comprising a fluorinated organic compound and a metal. Such particles may be advantageously employed in qualitative or quantitative imaging such as acoustic imaging including photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging, MRI imaging, such as 19F imaging, 1H imaging including T1 and T2 weighted imaging, SPECT, PET, scintigraphy, fluorescence imaging and optical coherence imaging and tomographic applications. This may then be employed in cell labeling, microscopy, histology or for imaging vasculature or perfusion in vivo and in vitro.

The present invention relates to a method of preparation of formulations of lanthanide metal complexes of macrocyclic chelators which further comprise a small excess of free chelator. The method uses a solid phase-bound scavenger chelator to remove excess lanthanide metal ions, prior to the addition of a defined excess chelator. Also provided is a method of preparation of MRI contrast agents, together with solid-phase bound chelator meglumine salts useful in the methods.

A method of diagnosing an inflammasome-mediated disorder includes administering a pharmaceutical composition to a subject. The composition includes a carrier molecule having a detectable moiety attached thereto. The carrier molecule includes a non-toxic carbohydrate-based backbone. The method also includes after the administering step, detecting a presence of the detectable moiety at a predetermined location in the subject.

This invention relates to compounds of formula I or Ia: (I) (Ia). Y is EuK, —EuAF, —EuPG, -L-EuE; Z is a chelating moiety; and the other substituents are as defined herein. Also provided are formulations comprising such a compound, as well as methods of imaging or methods for the treatment of cancer comprising use of such a compound or formulation.

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A dual-modality nanoprobe targeting glioblastoma and preparation method thereof are described. The dual-modality nanoprobe of the present disclosure comprises DSPE-PEG(2000)-Amine, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), Cy7-NHS molecule, targeting polypeptide and/or trans-mirror structure (i.e., enantiomer) thereof. The dual-modality nanoprobe can integrate the advantages of magnetic resonance and fluorescence imaging and thus provide clearer anatomical structure information of brain tumors; in the imaging process, the dual-modality nanoprobe can not only provide clearer image results, but also can specifically identify target sites. Also, the dual-modality nanoprobe of the present disclosure also has good in vivo stability.

Disclosed herein is a method for multimodal imaging during a medical procedure using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Raman optical imaging which involves administering an MRI imaging contrast agent that a chemical structure having charge-transfer electronic transitions. The tissue is imaged using and MRI device and the tissue is illuminated with excitation light that has spectral components that are approximately tuned close to one of the charge-transfer electronic transitions thereby producing enhanced Raman optical signals which are analyzed to produce Raman imaging data followed by registering the MRI and Raman imaging data. The present disclosure also provides a method for ionizing laser plumes through atmospheric pressure chemical ionization.