Possible exploitation of magnetic nanoparticle–cell interaction for biomedical applications

Magnetic nanoparticles have been advocated for use in magnetic resonance (MR) image enhancement and as bio-carriers in biological systems for many years. However it is only in recent years that the fields of nanotechnology, materials science and cell biology have combined to enable us to fully comprehend the potential uses of such nanoparticles in biomedical applications. This short review aims to detail some of the more recent advances using magnetic nanoparticles in biological research, highlighting possible biomedical applications and relating how the advancement of such research relies on parallel interdisciplinary research in materials chemistry.