TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION
The magnetic levitation of cells enables the separation of cell type.
In this system, a whole blood sample is suspended in a paramagnetic medium and introduced into the magnetic levitation platform, where cells are levitated and sorted by their density. The position of the cells is imaged by a camera from a smartphone.
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Preliminary work has shown that some cells from the blood of ME/CFS patients behave differently than controls and when followed over time.
Sample video of the magnetic levitation device, showing that the behaviour of single cells can be visualised in real-time. Real-time monitoring of breast cancer cells treated with 100 mM HCl in the densitometry platform. Fluorescent and bright-field microscopy images were taken every 20 s and merged together. Green fluorescence indicates live and red fluorescence indicates dead cells. Credit: PNAS, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1509250112
