Magnetics Business & Technology - Summer 2018 - 7

FEATURE ARTICLE
Continuing collaboration to characterize nanoparticles and solve
problems

is basically at sea level."

Clinical trial to detect spread of breast cancer this fall
After ChemConnection makes several batches, Imagion Biosystems will perform some preclinical trials to double-check the
particles aren't toxic. Then ChemConnection will make a small
production lot of nanoparticles - comparable to a half teaspoon
of sugar - for Imagion Biosystems' breast cancer clinical trials.

CINT and Imagion Biosystems continued the collaboration
beyond the effort to produce identically sized magnetic nanoparticles. Vreeland said, "We still run into all sorts of issues all the
time so being able to talk with Dale or other scientists about
some of the challenges we're facing is really invaluable."

"Because the nanoparticles are uniform and have excellent magnetic properties, we don't need a lot. We expect that a patient will
be injected with at most 1 milligram of particles," said Vreeland.

Sandia bioengineer George Bachand assisted with the early toxicology and cell-targeting studies. Sandia researcher John Reno
helped characterize the size and shape of the nanoparticles,
using small angle X-ray scattering.

All of the patients for the first clinical trial will be selected because their oncologists' treatment regimen includes lymph node
removal and biopsy. Before each patient has several lymph
nodes removed surgically, the magnetic nanoparticles, coated in
the breast cancer-specific antibodies, will be injected at the site
of the known tumors. After the removal but before the biopsy,
Imagion Biosystems' detection system will examine removed
lymph nodes to look for the spread of cancer.

Small angle X-ray scattering is a method to determine the size
and size distribution of nanoscale materials. "With CINT's X-ray
scattering instrument we can figure out exactly how big the particles are in 15 minutes. Seven or eight years ago it would take
a week to figure out the same thing using electron microscopy,"
said Huber.

Vreeland said she hopes Imagion Biosystems' method will be
as accurate as a pathologist, with the eventual goal of using this
method first to look for cancer and eliminate the need to remove
cancer-free lymph nodes.
"Our No. 1 aspiration is to see the nanoparticles make it into
regular clinical use with our MagSense cancer detection technology. Beyond that we believe the nanoparticles can be instrumental in a wide variety of biomedical applications including uses in
treatment of cancer or other diseases," said Proulx.

This almost real-time size measurement enabled Vreeland to
predict how the reaction would end and validate that they were
on the right path, she said. The team used other CINT instruments to characterize the magnetic strength and coatings of the
nanoparticles.
In addition to accessing the CINT experts and equipment through
its user program, the partnership with Imagion Biosystems was
supported by several New Mexico Small Business Assistance
Program grants, which can support proprietary research.

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Summer 2018 * Magnetics Business & Technology

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