Patent ID: 8060179
Filing Date: 2011-11-15
Classification: A61B,A61K,G01R

Abstract:
1. A method for in-vivo detection of neurodegenerative disease comprising: SQUID imaging of a subject's head after the subject having been administered superparamagnetic nanoparticles comprising an iron-containing core, a coating covering the core, and a probe molecule conjugated to the coating wherein the probe molecule locates the superparamagnetic nanoparticle to a target in the brain that is characteristic of the neurodegenerative disease; magnetizing the superparamagnetic nanoparticles using external magnetic coils with a field strength and application time that causes the superparamagnetic nanoparticles attached to the target to produce magnetic remanence fields lasting more than a microsecond but less than tens of seconds; measuring the decaying remanence magnetic fields of the superparamagnetic nanoparticles attached to the target and not from unattached superparamagnetic nanoparticles to obtain magnetic field measurements; and detecting neurodegenerative disease from the magnetic field measurements and the magnetic properties of the superparamagnetic nanoparticles.