On-chip diagnostic device
Year
2010
Project team
Geoffrey Beach with Elizabeth Rapoport
Superparamagnetic beads
Functionalized superparamagnetic beads are the biomedical industry workhorse for tagging, manipulating, and detecting chemical and biological species in a fluid environment. This work makes a significant step forward in the field of on-chip magnetic bead handling by using magnetic domain walls as mobile traps for beads. We show that the bead-DW magnetostatic interaction enables transport along specifically designed track structures, and the interaction between bead and domain wall provides a means to sense and characterize magnetic beads without the need for specific chemistry. The integration of transport and measurement on chip is a step toward the development of multifunctional precision magnetic lab-on-bead devices.
