Marina Radoul1, Batya Cohen1, Moriel Vandsburger1, Raz Zarivach2, Michal Neeman1
1Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; 2Department of Life Sciences, Ben Gurion University, Israel
Ferritin is a main iron storage intracellular protein which has recently proposed as MRI reporter gene due to paramagnetic ferrihydrate in its core. However, it has low R2 relaxivity and thus provides relatively low sensitivity. In this study, we have designed a recombinant fusion ferritin-N6A to facilitate conversion of ferrihydrate into magnetite and by this induce MRI contrast.