ICMM and Magnetic Nano-Particles -Hannah

Its hard to imagine that I have only spent two weeks at the ICMM with my group in their lab. The amount I have learned is inconceivable. The science I have been able to witness is fascinating, and the team I observe and help each day is awesome. My boss, Maria del Puerta, is extremely nice and also extremely intelligent and well-known in the science world. She was the first person to attempt an explain what she and her team does to me, a recent high-school chemistry student who, as well as trying to grasp nano-particle theory, is simultaneously trying to understand Spanish. However, by the end of these two weeks I feel I have a good conception of the biological application of these magnetic nanoparticles as well as how they are created. And  I learned a few new vocabulary words along the way.

To start, I was introduced to the whole team and got to see what they were up to in the lab. I met Lucia, who I spent most of my time with working with the electron microscope. I met Irene, who's working on her thesis. She showed me how to make the magnetic nano-particles. There's also Watson, from Brasil. He spent most of his time examining muestras, or samples/slides of concentrations of particles. I also spent some time with Amelia, who is the link between this team of chemists and the biological applications of their work, with real-live cells. There are many more in the team, too many to list, who all take part in a key role in the lab.
After introductions, I immediately began my learning experience.
In this lab, they work on the creation and experimentation of magnetic nano-particles, that have several very important biological applications. MNPs (magentic nano-particles) are particles based on the various metal oxides. Most of the samples I worked with were iron. MNPs are extremely small, but open up worlds of technological advances, especially in medicine. Modern MRIs use MNP for their display properties. However, due to their supermagnatismic qualities, the greatest and possibly, in the future, most common known use is their drug delivery application within the body. For example, when injected in the blood stream within red blood cells, the body does not recognize them as foreign. therefore these cells behave like normal human cells, but are magnetized. For a cancer patient, as an example, these nano-particles can be driven straight to the location of the tumor and eradicate it, without harm to surrounding healthy tissue. The technology I got to witness was insane. It is hard to imagine I was in the lab that is behind all the chemistry needed for these biological applications.

Above is a picture of the electron microscope, where I first spent my time. It is a very tedious process to prepare the equipment, and it is also very sensitive, because the slides were were preparing it to look at hold particles that are about that same width as the amount your fingernail grows each second. Preparing the slide was also a lengthy process, for because the particles are so small they can't be seen by the human eye. I felt I was preparing a slide of pure water.

My favorite part was pouring the liquid nitrogen into the microscope. Lucia let me play with it, of course very safely and very productively.

In the photo above, I am placing the long rod that hold the small disc of a slide at the very tip. The slide itself is a disc about the size of a pimple. But even smaller are the particles within that slide! It was important to do this part carefully, otherwise the microscope will not be completely empty of all air on the inside. Lucia took these photos so I could send them to my father, a pathologist, who was jealous of the fancy microscopes I got to use. 

Above is our final result, the image that reflects on a surface within the microscope that we can observe and see the particles themselves. I felt they look like millions of constellations, little tiny stars that somehow fit into that minuscule slide. 

After getting to physically see the MNP's, I observed the creation of them in the lab. It seemed so simple, like following a recipe. However, the experiment itself has to be done carefully to get the correct radius of particles. The size of the particles very greatly, and a certain size is desired in each synthesis. 

In the photo above, although it is not great quality, it can be seen how the experiment is done, behind glass in a completely sealed box with only two long black gloves that the chemist uses to perform chemical experiments. Also in the picture is the "recipe" that Irene was following. Although appearing simple to follow, many controls had to constantly be monitored. As a recent chemistry student it was so interesting to observe a chemical reaction occur and watch as two clear solutions join, and immediately make a black liquid that signifies the creation of fresh new iron-based magnetic nano-particles. 

Tomorrow I am going to watch as Amelia puts these particles into HeLa cells. 

Above is a video of me playing with the MNP's in a vile of other solution. Hopefully the quality is good enough that the shapes of the clump of the particles can be seen. I can also be heard saying something along the lines of "que mono" which means "how cute" because the magnetic poles forced the particles to take on a spiky shape. I thought it looked furry..... but in reality it is a very toxic substance if exposed directly to human tissue. 

-Hannah