MEPhI has received a patent on A Method for Engineering a Nanosized Diagnostic Probe Based on Conjugates of Nanoparticles and Single-Domain Antibodies (RU 2 560 699).

The new nanoprobe is highly sensitive and small in size and, hence, can be used to visualize very small amounts of tumor cells or other pathologically altered cells, viruses, or bacteria and can penetrate deep into tissue to detect disease biomarkers in samples of tissues or biological fluids and, potentially, in vivo.

The high efficiency of the nanoprobe is ensured by (1) an unprecedentedly bright emission and a high photostability of the fluorescent semiconductor nonocrystals or "quantum dots" used as fluorescent tags; (2) a narrow emission spectrum of the nanolabels and their very wide absorption spectrum; (3) a new technique for transferring the nanocrystals to the water phase using "smart" polymers (polyethylene glycol derivatives); as well as (4) a small size of single-domain antibodies used as capture molecules; and strictly oriented attachment of these molecules to the nanoparticles with the use of modern nano-bioengineering techniques.

The new generation of diagnostic nanoprobes was described in more detail, e.g., on the LNBE website in March and April of this year.

Further development of diagnostic nanoprobes is one of the LNBE's main areas of research. To date, pilot nanoprobes for imaging several biomarkers of human malignant tumors have been engineered in the laboratory, which should allow early diagnosis of cancer to be substantially improved.

MEPhI has been collaborating in this field with French and German research centers for several years. In addition, a joint project with the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Republic of Korea, has been launched in this year.