2011 251660288251659264251662336251661312 Magnetic Bead Technology History, Applications, and Marketability University of Massachusetts-Lowell Shiv Sharma Garo Yessayan Zachary Nicoll George Chahwan Jason Tarantino Abstract The objective of this review is to track the on-going progress and evolution of the biotechnological field through the experimentation with magnetic bead technology and its applications to modern society. With the large demand for lower costing health care, In Vitro companies have been looking for newer technologies that will make the overhead costs of clinical tests and diagnostics cheaper. As a result, recent research has elucidated the pros of magnetic bead technology. Magnetic beads are polymer-encapsulated shells with a magnetic pigment mostly made up of iron oxide. The polymer surface of the beads permit chemical derivatization of magnetic particles; this allows for the conversion of the magnetic particles into a binding agent for testing and application. The review will look at the history of magnetic bead technology, from its development to its current applications, its effect on the scientific community, and its marketability. Introduction Background Magnetic Bead Technology has been around since the 1970’s when Norwegian scientists were trying to implement magnetism into biological studies. A standardized form was discovered in 1976 when Norwegian scientist John Ugelstad was first able to create spherical, polystyrene beads of exactly the same size. This technique had only previously been accomplished by NASA in the weightless conditions of space. It centers on the concept of magnetic bead-based separation. The initial upside to this discovery was that it allowed for previously unattainable lab results to be accurately observed. It led to the idea that magnets can be used to more accurately perform the techniques already in place. Magnetic beads are based around the use of super paramagnetic materials that exhibit magnetic properties in the presence of a magnetic field with 2 no residual magnetism once the field is removed. This material trait allows for the beads to be magnetically separated from a mixture and then studied individually. The beads themselves are a polymer encapsulated shell with a magnetic pigment, usually iron oxide, inside. What makes them so special is the polymer surface allows for biological substances to be bound to their surface. Major companies have become interested in the development and application of the technology so it has been able to grow rapidly. The major upsides of this technology are that it is significantly cheaper, requires less labor and is widely applicable. These advantages are the driving forces behind the conception and development of the magnetic bead technology. Some of the applications are highly interesting and can be productive in the medical field. Bar-coded magnetic bead (BMB) technology is new, upcoming and is currently being introduced to society. This technology can help in the medical field by assisting doctors with bacteria testing. Bacteria can be quickly identified and can also get accurately matched up with the best possible antibody. This can cut days off the old methods of testing which can not only improve a patient’s health faster, but can also hinder anti-body resistance by picking the strongest medication for the job. In addition, these advancements will offer new opportunities for automated, low-cost and fast cancer diagnosis. DynaBeads Dynabeads have become the industry standard for all magnetic beads and are the ones used by scientists in their experiments. John Ugelstad, the Norwegian scientist, invented the early form of these beads with the intention of creating uniformly distributed bead surfaces. The Dynal company eventually progressed the technology to the point where they are capable of creating unique batch-to-batch, reproducible beads. The process in which they are formed gives them all the same shape, texture and size, which allows for tests results to be reproduced. The 3 outside polymer shell also allows bioreactive substances to be absorbed or coupled to their surface and they can later be separated from the biological materials. The overall process allows bioreactive materials to be copied onto the surface of the beads, and then the beads are magnetically removed from whatever solution they are in, then the bioreactive materials can be separated and studied. A standardized version of the magnetic beads is an essentially part to their development and continued use in future experiments. The Needs and Opportunities Lately, there has been a seemingly eternal quest for improved medical care at lower costs. With an aging US population In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) companies are scrambling to find biological solutions that will bring down the price of improved medical care. Due to this urge, the IVD industry is rapidly evolving. In a nutshell, the need for improved care at a low cost entails improved diagnostic methods. Therefore, a lot of recent research is focused in figuring out more efficient and precise diagnostic methods. An example would include improved testing sensitivity. Improvements in this phase of the diagnostic method will lead to better diagnosis, a better clinical management, and inevitably reduced costs of clinical care. Thus, IVD companies have been looking at numerous technologies such as magnetic beads to help if finding a solution to the needs of consumers. Magnetic beads, in the last twenty years have exponentially progressed to now be considered the “golden standard” in the magnetic microspheres and magnetic nanospheres field. Magnetic beads are an essential component of immunoassay diagnostic kits for analyzers in clinical labs. These microspheres are actually polymer shells with a magnetic pigment; here, the 4 magnetic material is mainly iron oxide. Functional groups of the polymer surface permit chemical derivatization of magnetic particles. This process allows the conversion of magnetic particles into a binding agent for tests using immunoassays. In the biomedical field, magnetic beads range in size anywhere between 1um-100um, being 1um-2um in size on average. The iron content of these beads also varies between 15%60%; this amount determines the response to an applied magnetic field, facilitating the manipulation of any phase in any biomedical test. Instrumentation Turbo Beads Turbo Beads are the next generation of magnetic beads; they are magnetic nanobeads that have a core and shell structure. The beads core is constructed of metal, and its shell is made out of carbon. The metal core is used because of its highly magnetic properties, and the carbon is used to provide a chemical stability. This new technology provides a fast and efficient way to separate various compound from one another. This technology began by taking highly reactive metal nanomagnetics and coating them in graphene- carbon. The binding of the beads is a carbon to carbon bond. This covalent bond allows for no ligands to be lost. A ligand is an atom that is 5 bonded to the central metal atom. The graphene-carbon allows the beads to have high thermal stability. This means that the beads can be used in areas that had low pH levels (Acids) and high temperatures without oxidation of the core. That is not the only positive property of the turbo bead. Due to the combination of the metal core and carbon shell these beads display a large increase in their magnetic properties. Below is an image that demonstrates how much more reactive the turbo bead is compared to a ferrite based bead. In the image on the left we can see that the ferrite based bead is located to the left and is in a red color; whereas the turbo bead is located to the right and is in a black color. In the middle of the two tubes is a standard magnet. It is clear that after forty seconds the turbo bead concentration is comparatively much greater than the ferrite bead concentration. The picture on the side is another example demonstrating how quickly the turbo beads can separate from a substance. In this image there is a substance that contains the turbo beads. It can be seen that once a magnet is applied to the vessel (bottom left corner) it only takes five minutes for the turbo beads to completely separate from the substance. The chemical properties of the turbo beads allow them to have a selective separation of precious metals at low concentrations. Also, their highly magnetic properties allow for high recyclability of 6 magnetic chemicals, which permits them to be reused. Today these turbo beads are being used for toxin management in water streams. Given that the beads are highly reactive and chemically stable, they can be used for the selective separation of heavy metals. The compounds that create the magnetic bead result in reagents for swift removal of toxins that can be found in contaminated water. The picture on the left is a graph that shows the amount of cadmium that is in water before and after the use of turbo beads. It can be seen that using the turbo beads significantly decrease the amount of cadmium found in contaminated water. This means that turbo beads allow the purification to go down to drinking water standards. CardioGenics Magnetic Beads CardioGenics’ bead is a type of magnetic bead that was developed to improve testing sensitivity. Most commercial magnetic beads have a dark color to them, and approximately 80% of the light they generate is lost, causing them to have a low testing sensitivity. The CardioGenics magnetic bead is a lighter colored bead that is used to optimize and collect light signals in binding tests. These beads are a lighter color than the generic bead because they are coated with a thin layer of silver before they are covered with a polymer shell. Since these beads are lighter they become more sensitive to light; which in turn maximizes light collection. The CardioGenics can vary in size from 1 to 50 microns, and have seven times more light sensitivity than a generic magnetic bead. Due to the increase in light sensitivity these beads improve the testing sensitivity. Below are two images that show the different amounts of silver coating that can be added in order to change the color of the beads. The lighter the beads are the more sensitive they are to light. 7 Asynchronous Magnetic Beads A new promising technology is asynchronous magnetic bead rotation (AMBR). In order for this technology to be useful in the field of pharmaceuticals and medicine, the beads need to be extremely sensitive because they have to examine various biomolecules in the nano scale. This breakthrough technology was elucidated through monitoring the continuous growth of individual bacteria by direct observation using optical imaging. Unfortunately, direct observation has numerous limitations such as optical diffraction and a limit to the number of cells that could be continuously monitored. The technology started off testing beads at a low frequency, around 2-25 Hz, due to limitations on the magnetic fields. Advances have been made to increase the rotational speed of the AMBR to 145 Hz, which allows the bead to have a detection limit of 59nm. There is a direct correlation between increasing the rotational speed to an increase in sensitivity. Such precision could be used to measure 8 nanoscale growth dynamics of individual bacterial cells. AMBR sensors operating at high frequencies of 145 Hz allow for higher resolution, which is important while dealing with molecules on a very small scale. Even though other technologies like electron microscopy and cantilevers already offer high resolution monitoring, the drawback of using electron microscopy and cantilevers is that they give optimal results in vacuum or air and that the AMBR technology has a higher resolution capability. AMBR sensors will make real time single bacterium growth monitoring and single virus detection possible in their given fluid environment. A rotating magnetic field controls the rotation of a ferromagnetic bead. The bead rotation becomes asynchronous with the magnetic field at a critical frequency Ωc. The critical frequency depends on the magnetic momentum of the bead m, the magnetic field strength B, the kinetic viscosity ɳ, the volume of the bead V, and the shape factor k (for a sphere, the shape factor is 6) Applications Turbo Beads/ CardioGenics Magnetic Beads Applications With magnetic beads being such a new but fast growing technology, there is no doubt that this technology can be applied to numerous fields shown in the figure below. A few fields include clinical diagnostics, drug targeting, cell isolation, purification, nucleic acid purification and detection. 9 A very popular application of magnetic beads would be providing more efficient assay platforms compared to suspension bead based assay platforms. Immunoassays are used to investigate the roles of biomolecules. Immunoassays help with trying to stop the progression of diseases such as HIV, Alzheimer’s disease, and numerous cancers. Immunoassays can use both magnetic bead platforms or suspension platforms but there are numerous reasons as to why magnetic beads are a better choice. At a glance, there are various drawbacks to suspension beads. Though these beads offer numerous advantages in the areas of sensitivity and cost, there are many unintended consequences that are elucidated during the process of use. Examples include the vacuum that is used to wash and remove liquid from the microscopic beads cause pressure that can fluctuate between wells and plates. This can ultimately skew data results. Also, human error is a major influence on the results in suspension bead tests are a lot of manual caretake is involved. On the contrary, magnetic beads just make the whole testing process more efficient and precise. The magnetic bead based assay platforms use a series of magnetic beads that have different dyes and emit at varied wavelengths. This is done to create a unique spectral address for 10 each bead. These beads then serve as solid phases to capture analytes. The figure on the side describes the process of the magnetic beads in the assay platform. Using magnetic beads to carry out the process of magnetic separation in an automated wash eliminates the variables that cause skewed answers with suspension bead use. Additionally, with magnetic bead technology, assays can be completed in 3-4 minutes and do not require additional user training. Conclusively, the benefits of using magnetic beads outweigh those of suspension beads. Magtration Technology Magtration technology in simple terms is the filtration for a nucleic solution by means of a magnetic force. When studying these nucleic acids, one can learn much about how cells function, research diseases, discover new medicines, and countless more applications. Nucleic acids are known as the building blocks of life and contain different types of DNA and RNA. These are found inside every animal cell and we can now separate nucleic acids by implementing magtration technology. Every cell is surrounded by a cell membrane which must be broken down first in order to get to the inside of the cell where nucleic acids are found. To do this, there are certain toxins and detergents that will break down a cell membrane but not harm the internal parts of the cell. A separate solution containing these paramagnetic beads is added to the lysis solution. These paramagnetic beads are coated with silica with is a natural attraction for the nucleic acid. This new mixture is shot up and down a pipette in which the magnetic beads are trapped up against the wall where a magnet is placed. Now that the magnetic beads and the nucleic acid trapped in the pipette, it must go through separate washing solutions. Several wash cycles should be preformed to maximize the purification process. From here, the beads are moved into a new 11 container containing a low ionic strength solution. When this solution is warmed up, it separates the beads from the nucleic acid. Then the final step is to remove the beads from the solution by use of a magnet and aspirating the solution up and down to collect the beads as done earlier and what remains is the purified nucleic acid. Asynchronous Magnetic Bead Applications As mentioned earlier, researchers are looking to operate AMB’s at a high frequency because that would mean a higher resolution and a higher sensitivity caused by changes in diameter. Many current applications would benefit from a higher critical frequency; examples include micro-mixing and growth studies. Using a ferromagnetic bead to reach a bead frequency of 145 Hz (shown in graph 1) that allows a detection limit of 59 nm; this is sensitive enough to study single bacterial growth. Graph 1 (1) The rotational frequency of the bead is calculated using the following formula: 12 Many applications use the sensors to monitor the growth of individual bacteria. In a recent experiment the sensors were used to monitor the growth of bacteria and its susceptibility to a particular drug. The Escherichia coli also known as E coli bacteria along with the antibacterial ampicillin were used for the experiment (2). The experiment showed that the AMBR sensor was able to detect changes at even 80nm in a single E coli cell. The sensor was also able to detect the response of the E coli cell to the antibacterial used. What is also worth mentioning is the fact that the experiment was done in water; this shows that the sensor is able to work in an aqueous environment unlike previous technologies like electron microscopy that would work best in a vacuum environment. The success of this experiment has extended the method to similar single cell studies like cancer cells. Finally, we can conclude that asynchronous magnetic bead rotation technology has a lot of potential. It has the ability to speed up treatment of bacterial infections by allowing us to find antimicrobials for infections in minutes instead of days. Another field where the technology could be of vital use would be for studying the response of individual cancer cells; such tests 13 could equal huge advances in drug development and treatment. The AMBR technology will help get faster results at a cheaper price hence saving more lives. Radiation Checking Magnetic Beads Professor Lawrie Challis, chairman of Mobile telecommunications and health and research program, has been looking into the affects of mobile phone radiation and alternatives. Mobile phones output electromagnetic radiation which, at 10^(-8) Hertz resemble the frequency of microwaves. Cell phones are not the only technology to emit such radiation; in fact any type of wireless communication device will use the same technology. Excessive use of these devices can lead to many health risks. Two of the leading problems are developing brain tumors, and break down of the blood brain barrier. The blood brain barrier protects the brain from incurring harmful substances that are within the body. When it breaks down it makes your brain susceptible to many health dangers. Two leading diseases that are related to the BBB breakdown include Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Other smaller risks include constant headaches, sleep disturbances, memory loss, learning disabilities, and infertility. Every device has a specific absorption rate which is the measure of the amount of radio frequency energy is absorbed by one’s body when using these device headsets which determine the danger of the device. All these risks decrease vastly with increased distance from the device to 14 your body. This is why hands free devices are very good based on the fact that they cut down immensely the amount of radiation that is absorbed into your body. Unfortunately, they do not eliminate these harmful risks. Professor Challis has done much research and found that attaching a magnetic bead to the wire or antenna of the phone. This type of bead is called a ferrite bead because it acts as a suppressant to the high frequency noise in the device; it stops any current from passing it on the outside of the wire. In simple terms it means that no radiation is pulsing out of the phone and is unable to reach the head. This technology can be used as a marketing technique that will promote certain phones that contain the beads as “health safe phones”. There is ongoing debate on whether these magnetic beads are a necessity within the cell phone unit. There are two main arguments against the use of magnetic beads in cell phones: one is that the cell phones pass a government safety test which regulates the amount of radiation a phone can legally have; the United States requires a 1.6 watt per kilogram SAR rating (specific absorption rate). The other argument against the use of magnetic beads in cell phones is that since the effect of the radiation takes a very long time to develop, not all scientists are convinced that there is a link between the radiation and any illnesses. The scientists argue that these illnesses can be caused by many effects and not just radiation poisoning. 3D Micro Incubator Magnetic bead technology has also been linked with the purification and detection of timorous cells. Mixing magnetic bead technology and micro-electro-mechanicals-systems (MEMS) has resulted in the ability to detect tumor cells rapidly and it also has the capability of collecting and purifying them. The magnetic beads allow specific antibodies to be incorporated 15 onto their surface to target and recognize the desired tumor cells in the clinical body fluids. The whole idea is based around the technology developed called a 3D micro-incubator. The machine itself was developed for the incubation and mixing process, and it has the ability, using the vortex effect, to mix large amounts of bio-samples efficiently and rapidly. It has also successfully detected ovarian and lung cancer cells by performing on-chip identification. The resulting mixture of magnetic beads and the 3D micro-incubator leads to a new ability for rapid purification and detection of cancer cells. The need for a means of detecting cancerous cells has long been a top priority in the scientific field since no known cure exists. Currently we are capable of detecting cancerous cells using biomarkers of tumor cells, cell biopsy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but these methods of detection take a long time and require complicated machinery and procedures. Therefore the need for a rapid means of detection exists. It is known that an early detection of cancerous cells is crucial to the prevention of the cells metastasizing, so a technology enabling very early detection is highly sought after. With the emergence of MEMS technology we have been able to miniaturize biomedical devices and systems. The combination of MEMS technology and its use in Biology has led to the emergence of a new field called lab-on-a-chip technology (LOC). This technology means that a whole host of 16 procedures and devices can be placed onto a single microchip, and it also reduces the amount of time it takes to diagnose because the process of analysis and preparation have been reduced to an automatic function. Using these LOC devices, scientists have been able to perform cancer analysis using cell sorting, separation and spectroscopy techniques. This technology may possibly lead to the ability to specify treatments to individuals, however the process still requires lots of bulk equipment that are needed to perform the identification of the cancer cells. This is where the implementation of magnetic beads comes in to play. We are able to surface-modify magnetic beads, which allows for a specific type of cell to be detected rapidly, and when combined with the previous technologies the overall process becomes much quicker. An actual experiment for the purification and detection of tumor cells was performed to accurately test the hypothesized outcomes. First they extracted body fluid in large amounts, around 20mL. The body fluids were then pre-centrifuged and collected. The next step involved re-suspending them with phosphate buffered saline into a 1 mL volume in an eppendorf tube. The samples were then incubated with magnetic beads specifically coded to recognize the tumor cells which could then be purified by using a magnetic field. The actual purification process is performed by using a vacuum pump to suck out all of the interference substances, leaving only the magnetized beads behind. The target mRNA can then be reverse transcripted and amplified using a built-in-self-compensated temperature control module. The overall layout of the system is comprised of three main units; the 3D microincubator, a micro fluidic control module and a nucleic acid amplification module. The 3D micro-incubator has three layers of PDMS structures which allow large quantities of fluids to be mixed quickly. Each layer has a thick PDMS structure and a thin pneumatically-driven PDMS membrane which generates the mixing effect. The thick PDMS structure is made up of two air 17 chambers with a connecting chamber. It has a built in electromagnetic valve capable of driving it via a digital controller and a vacuum pump. The vacuum pump generates the vortex flow in the mixing chamber, which is what is needed for the incubation process. For final proof, two kinds of cancer cells were incubated with magnetic beads, ovarian cancer and lung cancer. The magnetic beads were conjugated with the correct antibodies and placed in the incubator. Using a magnetic the beads were attracted and the unwanted substances were sucked out with a vacuum. It was recorded that almost all of the cancer cells were captured and purified by the experiment. On average about 92% of tumor cells are capable of being specifically targeted by this technology. The use of this technology will hopefully bring about the ability to detect and prevent cancer, that way we can avoid the need to cure it. Bar-coded Magnetic Bead Technology: Bar-coded magnetic bead (BMB) technology is new, upcoming and is currently being introduced to society. The technology works through a combination of photolithographic barcodes and molecular chemistry. The optical bar-coded beads are functionalized with nucleic acids, proteins, and probe molecules. The bar code patterns on the beads transmit high contrast signals to improve the isolation and identification capacity of in-vitro diagnostics. The beads themselves are decoded using two analyzers from an imaging based system. The bar-code patterns allow for the variation in the florescence signal during analyzation to be 18 minimal; therefore, offering a near 100% decoding accuracy. As a result, the bar-coded beads allow for highly multiplexed assays to be carried out in homo/heterogeneous media. This technology can help us in the medical field by assisting doctors in the bacteria testing department. Bacteria can be quickly identified and can also get accurately matched up with the best possible antibody. This can cut days off the old methods of testing which can not only improve a patient’s health faster, but can also hinder anti-body resistance by picking the strongest medication for the job. In addition, these advancements will offer new opportunities for automated, low-cost and fast cancer diagnosis. Marketability Magnetic beads are the most widely used solid phase for automated methods for isolation and detection of biomolecules. In fact, 9/10 top IVD companies use magnetic beads in their automated analyzers. Additionally, binding tests (such as immunoassays and molecular tests) combine for 1/3 of the clinical tests done in the market. These tests use magnetic beads as the primary component. This market is also valued at USD $42 billion as of 2008. Magnetic beads themselves have a market of $1 billion for immunoassay and molecular diagnosis. Furthermore, Dynal, a leading magnetic bead manufacturer claims that while the IVD market is fast growing, the magnetic beads market is growing exponentially faster. In the same report, Dynal explains that immunoassays make up $4 billion if the IVD market where magnetic 19 beads are once again the golden standard. Moreover, nucleic acid testing makes a smaller portion, roughly $2 billion of the IVD market; here, magnetic beads are the most common solid phase employed. Even areas such as genomics that include DNA and RNA extraction and purification (a $2.3 billion market) have started using magnetic beads at a growing pace. Conclusion Magnetic Bead technology is becoming influential in the field of medicine and biosensors. Having been in the market for only a few years, magnetic beads have gone from niche experimentation to a staple in the biomedical field. With its numerous practical applications such as asynchronous bead rotation, radiation sensing abilities and biomolecules separating abilities, magnetic beads are a technology that will be implemented for numerous years to come. Even from a marketing point of view, the technology has a lot of room to grow in the market; based on a simple cost analysis it can be seen that this technology will only rise monetarily for the fore coming future. 20 Reference sheet 1. Precision System Science USA, http://www.pssbio.com/products/mag_faq.html 2. Magtration Technology Explained, http://www.pssbio.com/technology/html_version/demo.html 3. Rhiannon Clouse, “eHow Purpose of Cell Lysis Solution”, June 25, 2010, http://www.ehow.com/about_6652172_purpose-cell-lysis-solution.html 4. Limit Your Exposure To Cell Phone Radiation, http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation 5. National Cancer Institute, “Cell Phones and Cancer Risk”, May 15, 2010, http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/cellphones 6. 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