In the past two decades, viruses have drawn more and more attention on their use in biotechnology and biomedicine. To a large extent, this newly emerging field is coincident with the rapidly developing area of nanotechnology. Virus like particles (VLPs) in which the virus capsid package non-viral cores such as inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) are being intensely investigated for their potential in bioimaging and biomedicine. My Ph.D. work has been focused on designing a novel virus-based iron oxide magnetic nanoprobes.As the first stepping-stone to achieve this goal, the methodology and strategies to synthesize mono-dispersed, size and properties controlled iron oxide magnetic NPs have been explored. The dependence of iron oxide nanoparticle formation on structure and thermal properties of Fe oleate complexes has been studied using different analysis and characterization methods.Following that, the particle stability and surface modification were investigated by using different functionalization ligands to impart biocompatibility. Iron oxide NPs coated with anionic PEGylated phospholipids ligands led to efficient encapsulation by viral protein cages. The resultant superparamagnetic virus like particles (VLPs) are potentially suitable as specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents for plant studies, especially in relation with systemic virus movement and for better understanding of the interaction between plant systems and recombinant viruses used in biopharmaceuticals.Besides, 4 nm iron-platinum (FePt) NPs were encapsulated into virus protein capsid formed icosahedral VLPs with multiple cores, and those cores displayed in a symmetric array at the inner cavity of the capsid. The special structure of the VLPs and their potential to be used as MRI contrast agents were discussed.
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