Principles and emerging applications of nanomagnetic materials in medicine

The development of nanometer-scale magnetic materials for biomedical applications spans the interface between the physical sciences and biology. Applications of these materials are rapidly becoming important in medicine and enable targeted therapies and diagnostics. At the same time, specific applications add focus to the development of novel magnetic materials and facilitate a deeper understanding of the physical mechanisms behind their function. This review presents a broad, nontechnical overview of the basis of magnetism in materials at the nanometer scale and describes how these materials are created, characterized, and used. Specific emerging applications in medical diagnostics and therapies are discussed, including cancer cell targeting for thermal ablation, tissue engineering, and three-dimensional noninvasive molecular imaging. Challenges in these fields are discussed, including the toxicity and delivery of magnetic nanomaterials and the sensitivity of imaging and therapeutic techniques. The development of novel nanomagnetic nanomaterials should continue to accelerate as new applications are identified and researchers uncover new mechanisms to increase and modulate magnetism at the nanometer scale.