Synthetic magnetic liquids for biotechnology applications

Russell COWBURN, Dept. of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK

Magnetic nanoparticles have been used in a variety of biomedical applications, including hyperthermia for cancer therapy and mechanical actuation of cells.  In most cases, the magnetic properties of the nanoparticles are relatively simple: particles are usually superparmagnetic and have a simple Langevin hysteresis loop.  Within other parts of magnetism research (such as spintronics), enormous progress has been made in creating synthetic magnetic materials using thin film deposition methods.  These allow magnetic properties to be carefully tailored to any particular application.  To date, most of those applications have been in the area of information storage for computing and industrial magnetic sensing.  In this talk I discuss the possibilities of using such advanced magnetic materials as a colloidal liquid for biotechnological applications.  I describe how we have made synthetic magnetic liquids by releasing millions of individually fabricated magnetic nanostructures from a silicon wafer to form a liquid suspension.  I show results from our first biomedical application of the liquids: killing cancer cells by mechanical disruption.  I show in vitro results in human glioma cells and initial in vivo results in mice with glioblastoma brain tumours.

 
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