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WILMETTE, Illinois — A Northwestern University start-up has received a $2.5 million investment to commercialize technology that employs gold nanoparticles to help treat cardiovascular disease.

AuraSense LLC, founded by nanotechnology superstar and Northwestern Professor Chad Mirkin, is developing a technology that uses gold nanoparticles to sweep cholesterol out of a patient’s bloodstream, reducing the chances of heart attack or stroke.

Researchers use gold and other metals as the basis of the artificial particles so they show up in medical imaging, according to a New York Times article. The artificial particles are designed to work like high-density lipoproteins, also known as “good cholesterol,” which can help protect the body from heart disease.

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Mirkin is billed by Northwestern as the “most cited” chemist in the world and is a member of President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. In June, he was awarded the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT prize, which recognizes scientific innovation.

Mirkin is best known for inventing the nanoparticle-based medical diagnostic assays underlying the Verigene system and Dip-Pen Nanolithography, an ultra-high-resolution molecule-based printing technique, according to Northwestern.

AuraSense has not previously reported any fund-raising to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mirkin didn’t return a call.