Biomedical researchers and clinical pathologists often work with large sets of cells and particles that need to be sorted and stored based on some specific characteristic or morphology. This can be a labor intensive and time consuming process. A team of researchers from Duke University and Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology in Korea have developed a system that functions similar to a digital computer to manipulate cells like bits inside an automaton.
A slide is used as a platform onto which electromagnetic components are printed, including tracks down which the particles can slide and logic units that guide them to move in a certain direction. The particles and cells themselves have to be magnetic or be tagged with magnetic nanoparticles to be compatible with the technology. Once introduced into the device, localized rotating magnetic fields force the particles to move along the tracks and through switches that work like transistors. Eventually the particles end up within “apartments” that act like storage areas, grouping them together by kind.
Here’s Benjamin Yellen, one of the principal authors of the Nature Communications paper, describing how the technology works:
Study in Nature Communications: Magnetophoretic circuits for digital control of single particles and cells…
Press release: Microchip-Like Technology Allows Single-Cell Analysis…
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