Magnetic plasmonic nanomaterials are of great interest in the field of biomedicine due to their vast number of potential applications, for example, in molecular imaging, photothermal therapy, magnetic hyperthermia and as drug delivery vehicles. The multimodal nature of these nanoparticles means that they are potentially ideal theranostic agents-i.e., they can be used both as therapeutic and diagnostic tools. This review details progress in the field of magnetic-plasmonic nanomaterials over the past ten years, focusing on significant developments that have been made and outlining the future work that still needs to be done in this fast emerging area. The review describes the main synthetic approaches to each type of magnetic plasmonic nanomaterial and the potential biomedical applications of these hybrid nanomaterials.

The efficient and sensitive detection of pathogenic microorganisms in aqueous environments, such as water used in medical applications, drinking water, and cooling water of industrial plants, requires simple and fast methods suitable for multiplexed detection such as flow cytometry (FCM) with optically encoded carrier beads. For this purpose, we combine fluorescent Cd-free Ag–In–S ternary quantum dots (t-QDs) with fluorescence lifetimes (LTs) of several hundred nanoseconds and superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (SPIONs) with mesoporous CaCO3 microbeads to a magneto-fluorescent bead platform that can be surface-functionalized with bioligands, such as antibodies. This inorganic bead platform enables immuno-magnetic separation, target enrichment, and target quantification with optical readout. The beads can be detected with steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry (FCM). Moreover, they are suited for readout by time gated emission. In the following, the preparation of these magneto-fluorescent CaCO3 beads, their spectroscopic and analytic characterization, and their conjugation with bacteria-specific antibodies are presented as well as proof-of-concept measurements with Legionella pneumophila including cell cultivation and plating experiments for bacteria quantification. Additionally, the possibility to discriminate between the long-lived emission of the LT-encoded capture and carrier CaCO3 beads and the short-lived emission of the dye-stained bacteria with time-resolved fluorescence techniques and single wavelength excitation is demonstrated.

A rigorous study of electrodeposited Ni/Fe oxides for the OER was performed in three different sodium hydroxide electrolytes with various Fe impurity concentrations.

There is a great interest in the development of new nanomaterials for multimodal imaging applications in biology and medicine. Multimodal fluorescent-magnetic based nanomaterials deserve particular attention as they can be used as diagnostic and drug delivery tools, which could facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and many other diseases. This review focuses on the recent developments of magnetic-fluorescent nanocomposites and their biomedical applications. The recent advances in synthetic strategies and approaches for the preparation of fluorescent-magnetic nanocomposites are presented. The main biomedical uses of multimodal fluorescent-magnetic nanomaterials, including biological imaging, cancer therapy and drug delivery, are discussed, and prospects of this field are outlined.

Core quote "Cancer drug screening is rapidly moving towards the use of 3D cell models. The added complexity of PDT action makes this a conditio sine qua non for the screening of new photosensitizers."The quest for the treatment of malignant diseases is ongoing. Classic modalities based on chemo-and radiotherapy and surgery are now supplanted by or used in conjunction with photodynamic therapy (PDT) [1]. PDT involves on the administration of a photosensitizing dye and its accumulation in the affected tissue. After illumination of the respective body part with light (typically low intensity lasers), the photosensitizer transfers its excitation energy to triplet oxygen (the 'regular' form of oxygen in the body) to yield singlet oxygen and other reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are highly reactive and cytotoxic, resulting in cell death via apoptosis, necrosis, or autophagy [2]. PDT can be very effective for treating cancers and has found widespread use in dermatology -e.g., as PUVA treatment for actinic keratosis -and is now approved for treating cancer of the esophagus, non-small cell lung cancer and certain types of head & neck cancers or dysplasias. Prime examples for photosensitizers are porphyrins, chlorophyll derivatives, -aminolevulinic acid (precursor for protoporphyrin), simple dyes such as psoralen, and others [3].Yet, despite its promise, widespread clinical use of PDT is only slowly emerging; in part the result of drawbacks of existing drugs and the slow entry of new drugs into the developmental pipeline. Photosensitizers are often classified as 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd generation drugs, with Photofrin being the classic 1 st generation PDT drug. This was followed by improvements of the photophysical and pharmacological properties in 2 nd generation molecules such as Levulan, Temoporfin or Verteporfin [2]. Currently, a significant number of similar drugs are in preclinical development. Contemporary studies on 3 rd generation agents focus on improved targeting, either via bioconjugate strategies (e.g., carbohydrate or antibody appended porphyrins), as nanoformulations or active transport systems [3,4].An optimum photosensitizer should have a high singlet oxygen quantum yield, not undergo photobleaching, be non-toxic and stable in the dark, water soluble, and be Senge, M. O.; Stafford, S. (2015): Getting it right: 3D cell cultures for the assessment of photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy.