Engineers have introduced a new magnetic shepherding approach for deftly moving or positioning the kinds of tiny floating objects found within organisms, in order to advance potential applications in fields ranging from medicine to nanotechnology.
The authors of a new research article said their method avoids pitfalls of using tiny light beams, electric currents or even a competing magnetic approach to micromanipulate so-called "colloidal" objects.
"Biology is composed primarily of colloidal materials, things larger than a few billionths of a meter that are suspended in solution and don't settle rapidly," said Benjamin Yellen, who developed this "magnetic nanoparticle assembler" technique while obtaining his doctorate at Drexel University.
"They could be cells or large
molecules; they are also being investigated for a variety of new devices, such
as miniature lasers or semiconducting components," added Yellen, who in
September will become an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and
materials science at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering.