Magnetic Sorting Method May Improve Diagnostic Tests
Researchers from Duke University and Purdue University have developed a new method for sorting magnetic particles which may give scientists a better tool for detecting and diagnosing disease.
The technique, known as nonlinear magnetophoretic separation, relies on silicon microchips that have a field of chromium-coated cobalt disks no larger than 5 microns on their surface. An electromagnetic field is created and then adjusted to specific speeds to selectively separate particles contained in a liquid sample.
While the biotechnology industry already uses magnetic particles to separate components in biological materials, this new approach aims to use the technology for medical diagnostics or environmental analysis.
Because the nonlinear magnetophoretic technique is capable of simultaneously separating and identifying pathogens with sensitivity up to a million times higher than the solid phase immunoassays commonly used today, it could be used to diagnose the presence of many diseases using a single sample. As one professor explained,
“When you walk into a doctor’s office, the problem is that it could be one of five or six different pathogens giving you the symptoms. The doctor cannot determine which pathogen you have, so they simply give you a broad-spectrum antibiotic or tell you to go home and get some rest. There clearly is a need for technology that can recognize multiple pathogens simultaneously and at very low levels.”
Detailed findings from the project are published in the online edition of Lab on a Chip and are scheduled to appear in a future print edition of the publication.
Source: Purdue University News
Related Links: Nanotechnology Today; nanotechwire.com; Birck Nanotechnology Center
Related Video:
3-micron beads as they are magnetically separated from 1-micron beads using a new technique developed by researchers at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering and Purdue University – from YouTube.
Tags: nanobiotechnology; Duke University Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science; Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering; MagSense Life Sciences, Inc; Purdue’s Discovery Park; superparamagnetism; National Science Foundation; NASA-funded; Institute for Nanoelectronics and Computing; West Lafayette, Indiana; Durham, NC
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