Jae Yun Kim

Magnetic, fluorescent core–shell nanoparticles consist of a single Fe3O4 nanocrystal core and a dye-doped mesoporous silica shell with a poly(ethylene glycol) coating (see picture of TEM images and schematic depictions). These nanoparticles can be used as magnetic resonance and fluorescence imaging agents, and as drug delivery vehicles, thus making them novel candidates for simultaneous cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Nanotechnology offers tremendous potential for future biomedical technology. Due to their unique characteristics including superparamagnetic or fluorescent properties, and small size comparable to biomolecules, nanostructured materials have emerged as novel bioimaging, diagnostic, and therapeutic agents for the future medical field. Especially, the combinations of various nanostructured materials with different properties can offer synergetic multifunctional nanomedical platforms, which make it

We synthesized uniform pore-sized mesoporous silica spheres embedded with magnetite nanocrystal and quantum dots. The magnetic separation, luminescent detection, and controlled release of drugs were demonstrated using the uniform mesoporous silica spheres embedded with monodisperse nanocrystals.

Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) determines a lower rank approximation of a matrix $A \in \mathbb{R}^{m \times n} \approx WH$ where an integer $k \ll \min(m,n)$ is given and nonnegativity is imposed on all components of the factors $W \in \mathbb{R}^{m \times k}$ and $H \in \mathbb{R}^{k \times n}$. NMF has attracted much attention for over a decade and has been successfully applied to numerous data analysis problems. In applications where the components of the data are necessarily nonnega

Targeting cancer: Multifunctional magnetic gold nanoshells (Mag-GNS) are prepared by coating silica spheres with gold nanoshells embedded with Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles allow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for diagnosis, and the gold nanoshells enable photothermal therapy. By attaching an antibody to the Mag-GNS by a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) linker, cancer cells can be targeted.

Multifunctional polymer nanomedical platforms make simultaneous cancer-targeted MRI or optical imaging together with efficient drug delivery in vitro possible. In addition, clusters of Fe3O4 nanoparticles loaded in the polymer nanoparticles endow the magnetic guiding of the polymer particles, providing synergetic targeting efficiency.

Abstract For the practical use of synthetic hydrogels as artificial biological tissues, flexible electronics, and conductive membranes, achieving requirements for specific mechanical properties is one of the most prominent issues. Here, we demonstrate superstrong, superstiff, and conductive alginate hydrogels with densely interconnecting networks implemented via simple reconstructing processes, consisting of anisotropic densification of pre-gel and a subsequent ionic crosslinking with rehydratio

Abstract Transdermal drug delivery patches based on hydrogels are widely used for the transdermal delivery of diverse drugs. However, most hydrogels do not exhibit adequate adhesiveness to skin surface. Herein, tissue adhesive hydrogels consisting of polyacrylamide/polydopamine (PAM/PDA) hydrogels embedded with extra‐large pore mesoporous silica nanoparticles (XL‐MSNs) are proposed based on the synergy of cohesive and adhesive properties. The incorporation of XL‐MSNs leads to enhanced strength a

Sequential decoration of silica spheres by covalent bonding of magnetite nanoparticles (blue) and attachment of functional nanoparticles of Au, CdSe/ZnS, or Pd (red) afforded multifunctional assemblies exhibiting combinations of magnetism with surface plasmon resonance (Au), luminescence (CdSe/ZnS), and catalytic activity (Pd), respectively.

Over the past decade, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) smaller than 200 nm with a high colloidal stability have been extensively studied for systemic drug delivery. Although small molecule delivery via MSNs has been successful, the encapsulation of large therapeutic biomolecules, such as proteins or DNA, is limited due to small pore size of the conventional MSNs obtained by soft-templating. Here, we report the synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles with extra-large pores (XL-MSNs) an

Immunotherapy has been recognized for decades as a promising therapeutic method for cancer treatment. To enhance host immune responses against cancer, antigen-presenting cells (APCs; e.g., dendritic cells) or T cells are educated using immunomodulatory agents including tumor-associated antigens and adjuvants, and manipulated to induce a cascading adaptive immune response targeting tumor cells. Mesoporous silica materials are promising candidates to improve cancer immunotherapy based on their att

study demonstrated efficient targeting of XL-MSNs co-delivering antigen and TLR9 agonist to draining lymph nodes, induction of antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), and suppression of tumor growth after vaccination. Furthermore, significant prevention of tumor growth after tumor rechallenge of the vaccinated tumor-free mice resulted, which was supported by a high level of memory T cells. These findings suggest that mesoporous silica nanoparticles with extra-large pores can be used as

Although reactive oxygen species (ROS) are essential for cellular processes, excessive ROS could be a major cause of various inflammatory diseases because of the oxidation of proteins, DNA, and membrane lipids. It has recently been suggested that the amount of ROS could thus be regulated to treat such physiological disorders. A ROS-scavenging hydrogel is a promising candidate for therapeutic applications because of its high biocompatibility, 3D matrix, and ability to be modified. Approaches to c

Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen-presenting cells that play an important role in connecting the innate and adaptive immunity of the immune system. To mediate innate and adaptive immunity, DCs pass through two stages: immature and mature. The change of phenotype is closely associated with the morphological and functional characteristics of DCs. Understanding these properties of DCs is important in the context of recent efforts on the developments of biomaterials-based cancer vaccine. In this pap