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Fullerene Nanomedicines for Medical and Healthcare Applications
By Charles Gause
Hospital & Healthcare Management, January 2009
Fullerenes are a form of carbon nanomaterial that can be functionalized and derivatized with a wide array of molecules that allow them to be used for medical and healthcare applications. Given their unique structure and properties, these carbon-based compounds are being investigated as a new and/or improved way to diagnose, monitor and treat certain medical conditions.
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A New Platform for the Development of Targeted, High-performance MRI Contrast Agents—Hydrochalarones™ (Endohedral Metallofullerenes)
Report by Joel Garbow, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor of Radiology, and Joseph Ackerman, Ph.D., William Greenleaf Eliot Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Radiology, Washington University, St. Louis
US Radiology - Volume 2 Issue 1, pages 84-86, December 2008
Two internationally recognized radiology experts from Washington University in St. Louis have coauthored a paper on a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent platform technology using Luna's proprietary molecule family known as HYDROCHALARONE™. The authors conclude that these new nanoparticles "represent a new and potentially powerful platform on which to build targeted MRI contrast agents." In the paper, they describe how Luna's new class of water-soluble endohedral metallofullerenes offer relaxivity of up to 10 times that of current gadolinium chelate -based MRI contrast agents on the market today. Additionally, they comment on the "stealth" properties of HYDROCHALRONE that offer "desirable properties for a platform on which to develop targeting species for clinical diagnosis and disease management."
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Hydrochalarones: A Novel Endohedral Metallofullerene Platform for Development of Targeted MRI Contrast Agents
Poster presented. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is widely available, highly translatable, and can provide excellent image contrast, especially in soft tissue. However, recent concerns over the role of current Gd-based contrast agents in the development of Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis in patients with impaired renal function highlight the need for safer imaging agents with enhanced imaging capabilities. By concentrating agent to a particular tissue, targeted contrast agents offer the potential for reducing the required systemic dose.
Paper presented at the World Molecular Imaging Congress, September 2008

Hydrochalarones: A Novel Endohedral Metallofullerene Platform for Enhancing Magnetic Resonance Imaging Contrast
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, June 18, 2008
Targeted imaging requires contrast agents that remain in the vasculature for extended periods of time. A new contrast agent is described in which gadolinium is encapsulated within an extremely stable carbon sphere, thus allowing for safe extended residence. Water solubility and small particle size is achieved with novel fullerene chemistry, attaching multiple oligoethylene glycol groups through nitrogen chemistry. These new compounds can be used to visualize tissue architecture in vivo with standard MRI techniques.
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Defect Formation in Graphene Nanosheets by Acid Treatment: An X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory Study
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, February 2008
Brian Holloway and Ron Quinlan of Luna's nanoWorks Division, co-authored (with seven others) a technical paper titled "Defect Formation in Graphene Nanosheets by Acid Treatment: An X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory Study" for the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. As of April 10, 2008, the paper had been downloaded 250 times.
Read the article at http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0022-3727/41/6/062001/.

Fullerene Nanomaterials Inhibit the Allergic Response
Journal of Immunology: Volume 179 / No. 1 / July 1, 2007
Paper describes how researchers from Luna Innovations Incorporated and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) are the first to show that carbon nanospheres, sometimes referred to as "buckyballs," are able to block allergic response in human cell culture experiments and mice. This research was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. A copy of the study is available to reporters in PDF format by email request from the American Association of Immunologists at infoji@aai.org.
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