Magnetic levitation techniques to separate and analyze molecular entities
AssigneeThe Brigham and Women S Hospital, Inc.
InventorMorteza Mahmoudi
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Abstract
The disclosure describes systems and methods for separating a plurality of molecular entities with differing densities. The system includes: a pair of magnetic poles of like polarity to provide a magnetic field; and a container holding the plurality of molecular entities in a fluid medium comprising nanoparticles that substantially change a magnetic susceptibility of the fluid medium such that, when the container is placed inside the magnetic field, sufficient gradients in an effective density of the fluid medium are generated inside the container to levitate the plurality of molecular entities to respective layers within the container, each respective layer corresponding to a respective density.
Claims31
A system for separating a plurality of molecular entities with differing densities, the system comprising:
- a pair of magnetic poles of like polarity to provide a magnetic field;
- and
- a container holding the plurality of molecular entities in a fluid medium comprising nanoparticles that substantially change a magnetic susceptibility of the fluid medium while preserving a stability of the molecular entities such that, when the container is placed inside the magnetic field, sufficient gradients in an effective density of the fluid medium are generated inside the container to levitate the plurality of molecular entities to respective layers within the container, each respective layer corresponding to a respective density.
A method for separating a plurality of molecular entities with differing densities, the method comprising:
- introducing the plurality of molecular entities into a fluid medium comprising nanoparticles;
- and
- subsequently placing the fluid medium in a magnetic field to generate sufficient gradients in an effective density of the fluid medium such that the plurality of molecular entities are levitated to respective layers by virtue of the respective densities.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.