Czech-French team develops microparticles to ease treatment

Prague, Sept 24 (CTK) - A Czech-French research team headed by Daniel Horak has developed new magnetic nano- and microparticles with a modified surface that will facilitate patients' treatment and diagnostics of some serious diseases, the BIOCEV research centre has said in its press release.

Horak, from the Macromolecular Chemistry Institute of the Academy of Sciences (AV), will participate in the research programme of the Biotechnology and Biomedicine Centre of the AV and Charles University (BIOCEV).

Both the uniform size of the particles and the chemical modification of their surface are significant for their application in medicine, Horak said.

The size enables their homogeneous physical, chemical and biological qualities and the surface modification enables to use them in patients' treatment.

The new magnetic nanoparticles have proved successful as new contrast agents to mark various types of cells. They can be monitored easily with magnetic resonance after being transplanted into an ill tissue, Horak explained.

The monitoring of these cells' movement, and possibly their multiplication and behaviour after a transplant is crucial for the further development of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.

Magnetic polymeric microparticles with a modified surface facilitate the separation of cells, proteins and other biomolecules from complicated mixtures with the aid of a magnetic field, Horak said.

He added that these microparticles would help analyse circulating cancer cells from the blood of oncological patients.

At the same time, the researchers are developing a new microchip technology using these magnetic microparticles that will make it possible to fully automatically describe the morphology of malignant cells.

Consequently, much smaller samples would suffice, while the time of their analysis and its price would considerably decrease.

The new methods will speed up the diagnosis of metastases and improve patients' comfort.

Horak will take part in one of the BIOCEV's key research programmes called "Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering." He has published more than 200 research works and written many chapters in scientific books. He is also the author of seven patents.