Magnetism and Medicine: A Biotech Phenomenon

Given biotechnology and nanotechnology’s wide-ranging applications, ‘biotech’ and ‘nanotech’ are the latest buzzwords in the area of scientific research. With applications ranging from environmental applications, drug targeting, and cell-separation to lab-on-a-chip devices, the fields integrate knowledge from several disciplines like telecommunications, hydrodynamics, control and system engineering, power electronics etc.

One of the many unique applications in nano-technology is the use of tiny magnetic beads which are coated with bio-molecules, DNA-strands and cells within the body. This magnetic bio-molecule can then be monitored externally by the simple principle of magnetism, similar process to the technique used to design the magnetic resonance imaging scanner. The process capitalizes on the basic principle of magnetism to help separate components in the body by using tiny magnetic beads.

With a small core made of magnetite or maghemite with a coating matrix of polymer from silica and with a diameter in the nano-meter range, the extremely small bead’s super-paramagnetic ability allows it to behave like a magnet when it is exposed to a magnetic field else. More significantly, in the cell separation procedure, these magnetic beads are coated with antibodies which are then made to react with specific antigens of certain cells. This antigen-antibody reaction with the beads helps to separate the required cells from a sample of cells in a solution in the presence of a magnet. The separated magnetic cells pass through a separate outlet while the non-magnetic cells pass through another outlet. Applied to medical research, this procedure can be used to separate healthy cells from diseased cells and blood into its constituent cells.

Besides the cell-separation technique, the magnetic beads can be used for specific drug targeting to kill diseased cells within the body, especially where side effects are significant compared to therapeutic benefits. An injection containing magnetic colloid is released into the body andthis is guided by means of magnetic field to the targeted blood stream. A major setback of radiation treatment is the possibility that some of the healthy cells could be exposed to high radiation and then suffer a form of damage. However, the beads’ cell-separation technique provides the benefit of treating diseases without exposing the healthy cells to any form of hazard. In overcoming this pitfall, the drug targeting procedure offers a means of delivering drugs in an efficient manner.