A biomagnetic system for in vivo cancer imaging.

An array of highly sensitive biomagnetic sensors of the superconducting quantum interference detector (SQUID) type can identify disease in vivo by detecting and imaging microscopic amounts of nanoparticles. We describe in detail procedures and parameters necessary for implementation of in vivo detection through the use of antibody-labelled magnetic nanoparticles as well as methods of determining magnetic nanoparticle properties. We discuss the weak field magnetic sensor SQUID system, the method of generating the magnetic polarization pulse to align the magnetic moments of the nanoparticles, and the measurement techniques to measure their magnetic remanence fields following this pulsed field. We compare these results to theoretical calculations and predict optimal properties of nanoparticles for in vivo detection.