Boston University

Bjoern Markus Reinhard

Suryaram Gummuluru

Luca Dal Negro

Embodiments disclosed herein relates to ganglioside GM3-containing mixed lipids nanoparticles having an overall size between 60-100 nm, the making thereof and the uses. The nanoparticles selectively targeted to CD169+ expressing cells such as dendritic cells and macrophage. The nanoparticles are endocytosed by the CD169+ expressing cells.

GM3 functionalized nanoparticles

Defined nanoparticle cluster arrays (NCAs) with total lateral dimensions of up to 25.4 &#x3bc;m by 25.4 &#x3bc;m have been fabricated on top of a 10 nm thin gold film using template guided self-assembly. This approach provides precise control of the structural parameters in the arrays allowing a systematic variation of the average number of nanoparticles in the clusters (n) and the edge to edge separation (&#x39b;) between 1&#x3c;n&#x3c;20 and 50 nm&#x2266;&#x39b;&#x2266;1000 nm, respectively. Investigations of the Rayleigh scattering spectra and surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signal intensities as a function of n and &#x39b; reveal direct near-field coupling between the particles within individual clusters, whose strength increases with the cluster size (n) until it saturates at around n=4. Our analysis shows that strong near-field interactions between individual clusters significantly affects the SERS signal enhancement for edge-to-edge separations &#x39b;&#x3c;200 nm. The observed dependencies of the Raman signals on n and &#x39b; indicate that NCAs support a multiscale signal enhancement which originates from simultaneous inter- and intra-cluster coupling and |E|-field enhancement. The NCAs provide strong SERS signals of bacterial cells thus enabling a rapid and reliable spectral identification of bacteria.

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Brookline, MA, United States of America

Bjoern Markus Reinhard