Scientists at the University of Wisconsin designed an ultra-small molybdenum-based cluster agent with long in-vivo-circulation half-life for photoacoustic (PA) image-guided photothermal therapy. Accumulating in the tumor, these clusters self-assemble into larger nanoclusters which absorb near-infrared light. Using an ultrasonic and photoacoustic imaging system (S10OD18505) that serves 13 major projects and was funded by the ORIP Shared Instrumentation Program, investigators demonstrated efficacy of these clusters for PA image-guided tumor ablation in-vivo. These findings may establish a new paradigm for PA imaging agents, an approach that bridges the conventional concepts of "molecule" and "nano" in the bioimaging field.
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