Novel Nanobiosensors for Identifying Microorganisms Using Magnetic Relaxation Switches

The goal of this proposal is the development of a totally new type of reagent/instrumentation system based on a Nanobiosensor that Prof. Josephson and Prof. Weissleder have developed and termed magnetic relaxation switches (MRS). We propose to apply MRS for two different objectives: 1) detection of microorganisms through their specific sequences on their rRNA (outgoing phase); 2) identification of specific tumoral cells lines using MRS functionalized with specific lectins (return phase).