Development of novel nanotechnologies in food, water and biomedicine

The aim of the present research project was the exploitation of peculiar iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs), named surface active maghemite nanoparticles (SAMNs), to develop novel challenging applications for food industry, water remediation and biomedicine. The potential of SAMNs as a promising, low cost, platform for building different drug vehicles, assays for bacteria determination and diagnostic tools was substantiated by eighteen scientific publications in ISI scored international journals. In particular, novel diagnostic platforms and novel pathogen detection strategies were created by the combination of SAMNs with mass spectrometry, quartz crystal microbalance and colorimetric assays. Furthermore, SAMNs were used as nanocarriers for biomolecules and drugs. A successful gene delivery system was proposed for cell transfection with SAMNs as nanovector, and a drug delivery system was studied in vivo using zebrafish as animal model. Further biotechnological solutions based on SAMNs were proposed as competitive options to current methodologies, techniques and processes for food industry and aquaculture. The presented body of work highlights the opportunity of innovation represented by the development of nanotechnology-based systems, providing affordable, robust and reproducible tools for the next generation of world scenarios.