Nanoparticles to aid brain imaging

Sensing calcium as it flows into neurons following firing can potentially track information flow throughout the brain's circuitry. Now, an MIT team has developed a calcium contrast agent for non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging detection. At top, a schematic shows how nanoparticles coated with two proteins (red and green) form mixed aggregates in the presence of calcium. The bottom panel shows actual sensor particles in the absence (left) or presence (right) of calcium. Image courtesy / Alan Jasanoff, MIT