Electromagnetic systems for the selective manipulation of magnetically-barcoded materials
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsPeter Tseng, Amirhossein Hajiaghajani
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Abstract
Embodiments herein are directed to a system and a method of selectively manipulating magnetically-barcoded materials from background magnetic materials. Magnetic barcodes include layers of magnetic anisotropy. These are then manipulated by a magnetic system that can drive spatio-temporal magnetic fields that can “match” a barcode to drive a specific interaction, thereby providing a “lock-key” interaction. This technique is able to selectively manipulate magnetically-barcoded materials, and can have applications across a variety of magnetic systems such as cell separation, drug delivery, valves, and motors.
Claims18
A method of magnetic manipulation, comprising:
- providing an object including a magnetic barcode, the magnetic barcode including an array of spatially varying magnetization vectors formed in a biocompatible material;
- and
- placing a magnetic platform adjacent to the object, the magnetic platform including a latch site generating a magnetic field whose streamlines align with the array of magnetization vectors of the magnetic barcode, wherein the object selectively interacts with the latch site.
A method of forming a magnetic barcode, comprising:
- providing a gel precursor solution including dispersed magnetic particles;
- and
- inducing gelation of the precursor solution in the presence of a spatially varying magnetic field to yield a gel in which the magnetic particles are aligned into magnetic chains having spatially varying orientations across multiple domains in the gel.
A magnetic barcode, comprising a matrix of biocompatible material and magnetic chains dispersed in the matrix in spatially varying orientations across multiple domains in the matrix.
A programmable magnetic platform, comprising:
- an array of electromagnets;
- a set of current sources connected to the array of electromagnets;
- and
- a controller connected to the set of current sources, the controller is configured to receive an input magnetic barcode, and to direct the set of current sources to actuate the array of magnets to have an array of magnetization vectors according to the input magnetic barcode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.