Recently, spinel ferrite nanoparticles remained a subject of immense interest for biomedical applications. Cobalt ferrites; a class of spinel ferrites, with unique characteristics have made them potentially best for medical applications owing to their high magneto-crystalline anisotropy and enhanced physical and chemical properties. Co-ferrites exhibit high Curie temperature, enhanced room temperature magnetic characteristics and large anisotropy constant. Further, good chemical stability, mechanical hardness and wear resistance make cobalt ferrite outstanding material [3]. Therefore, exhibiting these properties, cobalt ferrite are the potential candidates for medical applications e.g. magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and medical diagnostics, drug delivery, radio-frequency hyperthermia etc. As the properties exhibited by ferrites are largely dependent upon the size of the particles, hence the size-controlled synthesis of these materials is of utmost importance. Controlling size distribution in nano regime may produce superparamagnetic properties in these materials. The magnetic characteristics would be enhanced so that practically enough magnetism should retain after minimizing the particles size for MRI applications. The characteristic features exhibited by these ferrite nanoparticles have potential for applications in many advanced medical fields such as, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ferro-fluids, and in hyperthermia treatment. Moreover, ferrite nanoparticles could be made to coat with suitable legands in order to make them useful for biomedical applications.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been an important technique for clinical imaging and diagnosis since 1980 while it has recently served as an excellent tool in biomedical research. Imaging being an important tool of diagnosis in basic biology as well as in medical applications, is currently widely explored area of research.

Coating the ferrite nanoparticles is the main factor for determining the behavior of these nanomaterials for both in-vitro and in-vivo function. Magnetic nanoparticles generally have hydrophobic properties with a huge surface area and therefore tend to agglomerate. Hence surface coating enhance the dispersion in to biological media with greater stability. There are number of ways and with wide range of functional groups available for coating purposes: including polymers, surfactants, inorganic metals/oxides, and bioactive molecules. During this project, the proposed chemicals used for coating are polyethylene oxide (PEO), dextran, CTAB, and PEG. Doping of the selected samples will be carried out with Cu²⁺, Mn²⁺ and Zn²⁺ ions in order to enhance the magnetic characteristics of these materials.Recently, spinel ferrite nanoparticles remained a subject of immense interest for biomedical applications. Cobalt ferrites; a class of spinel ferrites, with unique characteristics have made them potentially best for medical applications owing to their high magneto-crystalline anisotropy and enhanced physical and chemical properties. Co-ferrites exhibit high Curie temperature, enhanced room temperature magnetic characteristics and large anisotropy constant. Further, good chemical stability, mechanical hardness and wear resistance make cobalt ferrite outstanding material [3]. Therefore, exhibiting these properties, cobalt ferrite are the potential candidates for medical applications e.g. magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and medical diagnostics, drug delivery, radio-frequency hyperthermia etc. As the properties exhibited by ferrites are largely dependent upon the size of the particles, hence the size-controlled synthesis of these materials is of utmost importance. Controlling size distribution in nano regime may produce superparamagnetic properties in these materials. The magnetic characteristics would be enhanced so that practically enough magnetism should retain after minimizing the particles size for MRI applications. The characteristic features exhibited by these ferrite nanoparticles have potential for applications in many advanced medical fields such as, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ferro-fluids, and in hyperthermia treatment. Moreover, ferrite nanoparticles could be made to coat with suitable legands in order to make them useful for biomedical applications.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been an important technique for clinical imaging and diagnosis since 1980 while it has recently served as an excellent tool in biomedical research. Imaging being an important tool of diagnosis in basic biology as well as in medical applications, is currently widely explored area of research.

Coating the ferrite nanoparticles is the main factor for determining the behavior of these nanomaterials for both in-vitro and in-vivo function. Magnetic nanoparticles generally have hydrophobic properties with a huge surface area and therefore tend to agglomerate. Hence surface coating enhance the dispersion in to biological media with greater stability. There are number of ways and with wide range of functional groups available for coating purposes: including polymers, surfactants, inorganic metals/oxides, and bioactive molecules. During this project, the proposed chemicals used for coating are polyethylene oxide (PEO), dextran, CTAB, and PEG. Doping of the selected samples will be carried out with Cu²⁺, Mn²⁺ and Zn²⁺ ions in order to enhance the magnetic characteristics of these materials.