Departmental Seminar

Abstract
There are many opportunities for new MRI contrast agents, whether to replace Gd chelates, or to probe the utlility of nanomaterials for biomedical imaging. Our work has brought together highly paramagnetic clusters paired with nanocarriers made of polymers (both hydrophilic and hydrophobic), as well as silica (various pore structures). By using a nanocarrier, clusters which have been underexplored because of speciation concerns exhibit impressive relaxivities. The nanocarrier also plays an important role as it controls the immediate environment of the highly relaxing clusters but also provides the biological interface. This talk will provide a review of the advantages and disadvantages of a range of cluster-nanocarrier systems that we have developed for MRI contrast.