Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)

3 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Bioengineering

Microwave-driven Synthesis of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Fast Detection of Atherosclerosis

Juan Pellico^1,2, Jesús Ruiz-Cabello^1,2, Fernando Herranz¹

¹Advanced Imaging Unit, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III and CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias, ²Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Microwave technology enables extremely fast synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles for atherosclerosis plaque characterization. The use of an aminobisphosphonate in the external side of the nanoparticle provides a fast accumulation in the atherosclerotic area.

Biology

A Method to Assess Bacteriocin Effects on the Gut Microbiota of Mice

Chrstine Bäuerl^*1, Özgun C.O. Umu^*2, Pablo E. Hernandez³, Dzung B. Diep⁴, Gaspar Pérez-Martínez¹

¹Departamento de Biotecnología, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), ²Department of Food Safety and Infection Biology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), ³Departamento de Nutrición, Bromatología y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), ⁴Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)

Bacteriocins are believed to play a key role in defining microbial diversity in different ecological niches. Here, we describe an efficient procedure to assess how bacteriocins affect gut microbiota composition in an animal model.

Biology

Synthesis of ⁶⁸Ga Core-doped Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Dual Positron Emission Tomography /(T₁)Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Irene Fernández-Barahona¹, Jesús Ruiz-Cabello², Fernando Herranz¹, Juan Pellico³

¹Nanobiotechnology, Molecular Imaging and Metabolomics Lab, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), ²CIC biomaGUNE and CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES). Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), ³Advanced Imaging Unit, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES)

Here, we present a protocol to obtain⁶⁸Ga core-doped iron oxide nanoparticles via fast microwave-driven synthesis. The methodology renders PET/(T₁)MRI nanoparticles with radiolabeling efficiencies higher than 90% and radiochemical purity of 99% in a 20-min synthesis.