Université de Fribourg

Shear stress-responsive polymersome nanoreactors inspired by the marine bioluminescence of dinoflagellates

Rifaie‐Graham, Omar ; Galensowske, Nikolas F. B. ; Dean, Charlie ; Pollard, Jonas ; Balog, Sandor ; Gouveia, Micael G. ; Chami, Mohamed ; Vian, Antoine ; Amstad, Esther ; Lattuada, Marco ; Bruns, Nico

In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2020, vol. 60, no. 2, p. 904-909

Some marine plankton called dinoflagellates emit light in response to the movement of surrounding water, resulting in a phenomenon called milky seas or sea sparkle. The underlying concept, a shear-stress induced permeabilisation of biocatalytic reaction compartments, is transferred to polymer-based nanoreactors. Amphiphilic block copolymers that carry nucleobases in their hydrophobic block...

Université de Fribourg

Holistic view on cell survival and dna damage: how model-based data analysis supports exploration of dynamics in biological systems

Weyland, Mathias S. ; Thumser-Henner, Pauline ; Nytko, Katarzyna J. ; Rohrer Bley, Carla ; Ulzega, Simone ; Petri-Fink, Alke ; Lattuada, Marco ; Füchslin, Rudolf M. ; Scheidegger, Stephan

In: Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine, 2020, vol. 2020, p. 1–11

In this work, a method is established to calibrate a model that describes the basic dynamics of DNA damage and repair. The model can be used to extend planning for radiotherapy and hyperthermia in order to include the biological effects. In contrast to “syntactic” models (e.g., describing molecular kinetics), the model used here describes radiobiological semantics, resulting in a more...

Université de Fribourg

Characterization of the shape anisotropy of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles during thermal decomposition

Vanhecke, Dimitri ; Crippa, Federica ; Lattuada, Marco ; Balog, Sandor ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara ; Petri-Fink, Alke

In: Materials, 2020, vol. 13, no. 9, p. 2018

Magnetosomes are near-perfect intracellular magnetite nanocrystals found in magnetotactic bacteria. Their synthetic imitation, known as superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), have found applications in a variety of (nano)medicinal fields such as magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents, multimodal imaging and drug carriers. In order to perform these functions in medicine,...

Université de Fribourg

Simple and fast evaluation of relaxation parameters of magnetic nanoparticles

Lemal, Philipp ; Balog, Sandor ; Ackermann-Hirschi, Liliane ; Taladriz-Blanco, Patricia ; Hirt, Ann M. ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara ; Lattuada, Marco ; Petri-Fink, Alke

In: Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 2020, vol. 499, p. 166176

The efficacy of magnetic hyperthermia treatment depends on the optimal available magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) that are excited in a given alternating magnetic field and viscosity of the region of interest. In this regard, assessing the relevant relaxation parameters is of upmost importance and could improve the speed of development of efficient applications. Here, we demonstrate how to...

Université de Fribourg

Phase transformation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles via thermal annealing: implications for hyperthermia applications

Crippa, Federica ; Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Laura ; Hua, Xiao ; Goris, Bart ; Bals, Sara ; Garitaonandia, José S. ; Balog, Sandor ; Burnand, David ; Hirt, Ann M. ; Haeni, Laetitia ; Lattuada, Marco ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara ; Petri-Fink, Alke

In: ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2019, vol. 2, no. 7, p. 4462–4470

Magnetic hyperthermia has the potential to play an important role in cancer therapy and its efficacy relies on the nanomaterials selected. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are excellent candidates due to the ability of producing enough heat to kill tumor cells by thermal ablation. However, their heating properties depend strongly on crystalline structure and size, which may...

Université de Fribourg

Functional polymers through mechanochemistry

Schrettl, Stephen ; Balkenendea, Diederik W. R. ; Calvino, Céline ; Karman, Marc ; Lavrenova, Anna ; Neumann, Laura N. ; Sagaraa, Yoshimitsu ; Verde-Sestoa, Ester ; Giannantonio, Michela di ; Simon, Yoan C. ; Fromm, Katharina M. ; Lattuada, Marco ; Weder, Christoph

In: CHIMIA International Journal for Chemistry, 2019, vol. 73, no. 1, p. 7–11

While coupling mechanical and chemical processes is widespread in living organisms, the idea to harness the mechanically induced dissociation of weak covalent and non- covalent bonds to create artificial materials that respond to mechanical stimulation has only recently gained attention. Here we summarize our activities that mainly revolve around the exploitation of non-covalent interactions...

Université de Fribourg

Effect of clustering on the heat generated by superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

Lattuada, Marco

In: CHIMIA International Journal for Chemistry, 2019, vol. 73, no. 1, p. 39–42

Magnetic nanoparticles have been the subject of enormous investigations for their potential use as cancer treatment via hyperthermia. This is due to their ability to generate heat when exposed to an external magnetic field oscillating at sufficiently high frequency. There are many different parameters that need to be considered when designing the optimal nanoparticle formulation for...

Université de Fribourg

Nanoparticle administration method in cell culture alters particle-cell interaction

Moore, Thomas L. ; Urban, Dominic A. ; Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Laura ; Milosevic, Ana ; Crippa, Federica ; Spuch-Calvar, Miguel ; Balog, Sandor ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara ; Lattuada, Marco ; Petri-Fink, Alke

In: Scientific Reports, 2019, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 900

As a highly interdisciplinary field, working with nanoparticles in a biomedical context requires a robust understanding of soft matter physics, colloidal behaviors, nano- characterization methods, biology, and bio-nano interactions. When reporting results, it can be easy to overlook simple, seemingly trivial experimental details. In this context, we set out to understand how in vitro...

Université de Fribourg

Triggered metal ion release and oxidation: ferrocene as a mechanophore in polymers

Giannantonio, Michela Di ; Ayer, Mathieu A. ; Verde-Sesto, Ester ; Lattuada, Marco ; Weder, Christoph ; Fromm, Katharina M.

In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2018, vol. 57, no. 35, p. 11445-11450

The introduction of mechanophores into polymers makes it possible to transduce mechanical forces into chemical reactions that can be used to impart functions such as self‐healing, catalytic activity, and mechanochromic response. Here, an example of mechanically induced metal ion release from a polymer is reported. Ferrocene (Fc) was incorporated as an iron ion releasing mechanophore into...

Université de Fribourg

Structural behavior of cylindrical polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-butylene)-block-polystyrene (SEBS) triblock copolymer containing MWCNTs: on the influence of nanoparticle surface modification

Hasanabadi, Noushin ; Nazockdast, Hossein ; Gajewska, Bernadetta ; Balog, Sandor ; Gunkel, Ilja ; Bruns, Nico ; Lattuada, Marco

In: Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 2017/218/22/n/a-n/a

In this work, the influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the self-assembly of nanocomposite materials made of cylinder-forming polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene- butylene)-block-polystyrene (SEBS) is studied. CNTs are modified with polystyrene (PS) brushes by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization to facilitate both their dispersion and the orientation of neighboring PS domains...