"The project was terminated on the 17th of November 2015, because the fellow Rosa Martín Rodríguez got an Assistant professor position at the University of Cantabria. However, the collaboration between the fellow and the host group at the University of Basque Country is still active.
The research performed in this six months within the Lumimagnet Nano project include:
- Synthesis of monodisperse doped MxFe(3-x)O4 ferrite nanoparticles by a high-temperature solution phase reaction of Fe, Mn, Ni or Zn precursors in the presence of oleic acid and oleylamine.
- Culture of Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense bacteria and production of Fe3O4 magnetosomes doped with Co, Ni and Mn.
- Characterization of the magnetic nanoparticles by transmission electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry and infrared spectroscopy.
- In-vitro study of the cytotoxicity of the magnetosomes and their application for magnetic hypertermia.
The main results achieved so far are:
- We demonstrate that in-vitro hypertermia treatment with magnetosomes cause efficient viability decrease and growth inhibition in ANA-1 macrophage cells. We are currently writing a paper with these results which will be submitted soon for publication.
- The results obtained in collaboration with the University of South Florida about the heating efficiency in multi-functional manganese ferrite/graphene oxide nanostructures have just been accepted for publication as a paper in the journal Nanotechnology.
- We submitted a proposal entitled ""X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) study on monodisperse MxFe3-xO4 nanoparticles obtained by synthetic and biological routes"" to both ALBA and ESRF synchrotron facilities. We have been granted with 15 shifts of beamtime in ALBA (9-14 February 2016) and 12 shifs of beamtime in ESRF (6-10 July 2016). The XANES experiments at the K-edge of both Fe and dopant M ions will provide information not only on the oxidation state of Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Zn ions, but also on their local environment, particularly on the site symmetry. This characterization will be extremely helpful from both fundamental and applied points of view."
