ARTICLE IN PRESS

Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 307 (2006) 237244

www.elsevier.com/locate/jmmm

On-chip free-ow magnetophoresis: Separation and detection of

mixtures of magnetic particles in continuous ow
Nicole Pammea,b,, Jan C.T. Eijkela,c, Andreas Manza,d
a

Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AY, UK
b
Department of Chemistry, The University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
c
BIOS/Lab-on-a-Chip Group, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
d
Institute for Analytical Sciences (ISAS), Bunsen-Kirchhoff Strasse 11, 44139 Dortmund, Germany
Received 17 January 2006
Available online 12 May 2006

Abstract
The complete separation of mixtures of magnetic particles was achieved by on-chip free-ow magnetophoresis. In continuous ow,
magnetic particles were deected from the direction of laminar ow by a perpendicular magnetic eld depending on their magnetic
susceptibility and size and on the ow rate. 2.8 and 4.5 mm superparamagnetic particles with magnetic susceptibilities of 1.1
104 and
1.6
104 m3 kg1, respectively, could be completely separated from each other reproducibly. The separated particles were detected by
video observation and also by on-chip laser light scattering. Potential applications of this separation method include sorting of magnetic
micro- and nanoparticles as well as magnetically labelled cells.
r 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PACS: 75.50.T
Keywords: Magnetic separation; Magnetic microparticles; Microuidics; Magnetophoresis

1. Introduction
Magnetic microparticles are widely used in biomedical
sciences as a solid support surface for immunoassays,
DNA sequencing and cell analysis [1,2]. The use of
magnetic labels greatly facilitates the separation of the
desired biomaterial from the bulk of a reaction mixture
simply by application of an external magnetic eld.
Conventionally, such magnetic separations are carried
out in a test tube which is brought in close proximity to
a magnet that traps the magnetic particles whilst the
remainder of the reaction mixture is pipetted off. Such
conventional separation methods are quite labour intensive
and time consuming. Recently there has therefore been an
interest in continuous ow separation of magnetic particles
Corresponding author. Department of Chemistry, The University of
Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX, UK. Tel.: +44 1482 465027; fax:
+44 1482 466416.
E-mail address: n.pamme@hull.ac.uk (N. Pamme).

0304-8853/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.04.008

for example by means of a quadrupolar magnetic eld

across a tube [3] or a fanned out, inhomegenous magnetic
eld across a chamber [4,5]. Another approach for
continuous ow magnetic separation is split ow thin
(SPLITT) fractionation [6]. In this technique, two ow
streams, one containing magnetic particles the other
containing a buffer, were introduced into a central channel
and were separated into two outlet streams further downstream. Magnetic particles were dragged away from
their stream into the buffer stream by means of an external
magnetic eld. Miniaturisation of magnetic separation
devices has gained some attention in recent years due
to the anticipated integration of such devices into
micro total analysis systems (mTAS) [710]. In this context,
we described on-chip free-ow magnetophoresis [11]
as a separation method that is capable of separating
magnetic particles not only from non-magnetic material
but also different types of magnetic material from
each other based on their size and magnetic susceptibility
(Fig. 1).

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N. Pamme et al. / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 307 (2006) 237244

magnetically induced ow in y-direction dominates over

the applied ow in x-direction and hence, particles would
be expected to become immobilised in the separation
chamber. Within a certain window, an optimum velocity
has to be found for the particles to be deected and to ow
smoothly through the chamber.
The magnetically induced ow vector, umag, is the ratio
of the magnetic force, Fmag, exerted on the particle by the
magnetic eld over the viscous drag force [12]:
umag

Fig. 1. The principle of free-ow magnetophoresis. Magnetic particles are

deected from the direction of laminar ow depending on their size and
magnetic susceptibility.

One of the challenges associated with on-chip free-ow

magnetophoresis is the reproducibility of the particle
deection within the separation chamber. Previously, we
reported that particles of a given size and susceptibility
would be spread over as many as four exit channels,
making separations of mixtures of particles impossible. In
this paper, we demonstrate an improved microuidic
design featuring greater deection reproducibility. This
permitted the complete separation of different magnetic
particles from magnetic particle mixtures. Furthermore, we
have investigated on-chip laser light scattering detection as
a detection method for the separated particles.
2. Theory
The principle of free-ow magnetophoresis is shown in
Fig. 1. The key component of the microuidic chip is a
shallow rectangular separation chamber over which a
laminar ow is generated in x-direction by a number of
inlet and outlet channels. Perpendicular to the direction of
ow, i.e. in y-direction, an inhomogeneous magnetic eld is
applied. The sample inlet is located in the corner farthest
away from the magnet. Any non-magnetic material
entering the separation chamber via the sample inlet will
ow straight through following the direction of the
pumped liquid. Any magnetic material, however, will
interact with the magnetic eld and will be dragged
into the eld and thus deected from the straight ow path.
The observed velocity vector uobs (in m s1) of a
magnetic particle in the separation chamber can be
described as the sum of the magnetically induced ow on
the particle, umag, and the applied hydrodynamic ow uhyd:
uobs uhydr umag .

Fmag DwV p r  BB=m0

,
6pZr
6pZr

(2)

where Dw is the difference in magnetic susceptibility

between the particle and the uid (dimensionless), Vp the
particle volume (m3), B the externally applied ux density
(T) and r  B its gradient (T m1), m0 is the permeability of
a vacuum (H m1), Z the liquid viscosity (kg m1 s1) and r
the particle radius (m).
On closer inspection of Eq. (2), it can be seen that, for a
given magnetic eld and a given viscosity, the magnetic
ow vector, umag, is dependent only on the size and the
magnetic characteristics of the particle (Eq (3)).
umag / r2 wp .

(3)

3. Experimental section
3.1. Microchip fabrication
Microchips were fabricated from sodalime glass [11]. The
design is shown in Fig. 2. The separation chamber of
6 mm
6 mm was supported by 13 square posts of
200 mm
200 mm. 16 buffer inlet channels and one sample
inlet channel were all 100 mm wide and evenly spaced. The
junction between the inlet channels and the separation

(1)

At excessively high ow rates, the hydrodynamic ow

vector, uhyd, outweighs the magnetically induced ow
vector, umag, and no deection in y-direction will be
obtained. On the other hand, at slow ow rates, the

Fig. 2. Design of the microuidic chip, featuring the 6 mm
6 mm

separation chamber, supported by a number of posts, one sample inlet, 16
buffer inlets as well as 16 outlet channels. The junctions between the
chamber and the channels are tapered.

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N. Pamme et al. / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 307 (2006) 237244

chamber was tapered to allow for smooth entering of the

uid into the chamber. On the opposite site, 16 outlet
channels with 100 mm width were also evenly spaced with
tapered junctions. The sample channel had a length of
10 mm; the buffer inlet system was branched to enable the
use of a single buffer inlet reservoir and to evenly spread
the liquid over the entire width of the separation chamber.
The outlet system was branched in a similar fashion.
Although, any separated particles would ultimately be recombined in the outlet reservoir, this setup requires only
one pump and was chosen for simplicity and proof of
principle.
The design as shown in Fig. 2 was patterned onto a wafer
coated with chromium and photoresist. After development,
the glass was etched to a depth of 25 mm and thermally
bonded to a cover plate. Pipette tips were glued around the
inlet holes as reservoirs with epoxy glue and the outlet was
connected to a syringe pump (PHD 2000, Harvard, Kent,
UK) via a short piece of fused silica capillary and Tygon
tubing. Flow was controlled by applying a withdrawal rate
of typically between 200 and 600 mL h1, corresponding to
between 0.4 and 1.1 mm s1 in the separation chamber.
Prior to experiments the chip was ushed with 0.5 M
NaOH, de-ionised water and running buffer, i.e. a glycine
saline buffer, pH 8.3 containing 1 mM glycine and 1.5 mM
NaCl. Particle suspensions with about 1
105
particles mL1 were introduced into the sample reservoir,
running buffer was lled into the buffer reservoir and
negative pressure was applied via the syringe pump.
The experiments were lmed with a CCD camera (CX999P, Sony, Weybridge, Surrey, UK) connected to an
inverted microscope (DMIRB, Leica, Milton Keynes, UK)
A photograph of the microchip with reservoirs and
connecting tubing is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Photograph of the setup showing the microuidic glass chip with
buffer and sample inlet reservoirs as well as the connection to the syringe
pump for application of negative pressure. To generate a magnetic eld
gradient over the separation chamber, assemblies of small NdFeB magnets
were used.

239

3.2. Reagents, magnets and setup

Uniform, superparamagnetic particles (Dynabeads) consisting of an iron oxide core and a polystyrene shell
were obtained from Dynal Biotech (Oslo, Norway).
2.8 mm particles with epoxy surface groups (Dynabeads
M-270 Epoxy) were delivered as a dry powder of 67
107
beads mg1. Dynabeads M-450 Epoxy with a diameter
of 4.5 mm were purchased as a suspension with
4
108 particles mL1. The particles had magnetic susceptibilities of w 1:07
104 and 1.6
104 m3 kg1,
respectively.
3.2.1. Preparation of M-270 beads
Three milligrams of the supplied dry particles (ca.
2
108 beads) were washed by dispersing the particles in
1 mL PBS buffer, vortexing the suspension, magnetically
collecting the particles and taking off the supernatant. This
process was repeated twice. After the last supernatant had
been removed, the particles were re-suspended in 1 ml of a
10
concentrated assay buffer (pH 8.3), containing
100 mM glycine and 150 mM NaCl. The mixture was
incubated for 24 h whilst shaking constantly to maintain
the particles in suspension. During this incubation time,
glycine molecules were covalently bound to epoxy functional groups on the particles surface. Finally, the
suspension was diluted in 1
concentrated assay buffer
to 1
106 beads mL1 and stored at 4 1C.
3.2.2. Preparation of M-450 beads
Ten microlitres of the Dynabead stock suspension was
mixed with 990 mL of a 10
concentrated glycine saline
buffer (pH 8.3) and left to incubate for 24 h whilst shaking
constantly. The particle surface was thus coated with
glycine molecules and the reactive epoxy surface groups
were inactivated. Subsequently, the mixture was diluted
with glyince saline buffer (1
concentrated) to yield a
suspension with 1
106 beads mL1 and this was stored
at 4 1C.
Prior to experiments the particle suspensions were 10

diluted in a 0.1
concentrated glycine saline buffer,
containing 1 mM glycine and 1.5 mM NaCl.
The magnetic eld perpendicular to the direction of
ow was generated by an assembly for four cylindrical
NdFeB magnets (Magnetsales, UK) which were placed
on the chip beside the separation chamber. The magnets
had diameters of 6, 5, 4 and 2 mm and lengths of 4, 3, 5
and 2 mm, respectively. This assembly together with a
steel back-plate was placed on top of the microchip as
shown in Fig. 3. The magnetic ux generated by this
assembly was simulated in two dimensions (x and y)
with FEMM-freeware as plotted in Fig. 4. The ux
gradient over the separation chamber can clearly be seen
in the simulation. The ux density was almost 700 mT
at the surface of the magnet and about 70 mT at the
sample inlet.

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N. Pamme et al. / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 307 (2006) 237244

Fig. 4. Two-dimensional simulation of the magnetic eld generated by the

assembly of four small NdFeB magnets over the separation chamber with
freeware FEMM (http://femm.foster-miller.net).

3.3. Detection of particles

Detection of the separated particles was undertaken by
two means: (i) by counting according to visual observation
under the microscope and from video footage and (ii) by
using laser light scattering detection.
3.3.1. Counting by visual observation
Videos were taken of the particles owing through the
chamber. The optical eld of view even for the lens with the
smallest magnication (2.5
) was only about a quarter of
the 6 mm
6 mm separation chamber. Hence, only a
section of the chamber could be observed and lmed at a
time. For counting of the separated particles, it was
sufcient to observe a section with several of the outlet
channels in the eld of view.
3.3.2. Counting by laser light scattering detection
Particle counting was also attempted by using the laser
light scattering detection system as described earlier [13].
Briey, a laser beam was focussed into the microchannel.
Two optical bres were positioned above the microchannel
at angles of 251 and 351 with respect to the laser beam
above the microchannel. The bres were connected to a
PMT and computer. Beads owing through the laser beam
caused laser light scattering, which was collected by the
optical bres. For free-ow magnetophoresis experiments,
the laser beam was adjusted to a width of about 100 mm
and positioned just upstream of the desired outlet channel
to minimise background scattering from the channel
walls. This method allowed for counting in one channel
at a time.
4. Results
4.1. Stream lines in the flow chamber
To visualise the ow stream of the sample within the
microchamber in the absence of any magnetic eld, the
sample reservoir and the buffer reservoir were lled with
black ink and water, respectively. The uidic design with

Fig. 5. Flow visualisation with black ink in the sample reservoir: (a) for a
uid cell design with 901 junctions between the channels and the
separation chamber some of the sample stream was observed to leave
via exit number 2 and (b) for the design with tapered 451 junctions, all
uid from the sample stream was found to leave via exit number 1.

tapered channel junctions was compared with a previous

design featuring 901 junctions between the channels and the
separation chamber [11]. In the previous design (Fig. 5a),
some of the liquid from the sample stream was observed to
leave via exit 2. For the current design (Fig. 5b), the ink
stream was conned to the side of the separation chamber
and all ink left the chamber via exit number 1 directly
opposite the sample inlet. A portion of buffer solution is
also dragged into exit number 1. This can be attributed to
the different spacing of channels on each side of the
separation chamber. On the inlet side there are 17 channels,
on the outlet side, there are only 16 channels. From these
observations it can be concluded, that any particles owing
into an outlet channel other than exit 1 would have been
inuenced by the magnetic forces perpendicular to the
laminar ow.
4.2. Separation of magnetic particles
Particle suspension was lled into the sample reservoir,
buffer into the buffer reservoir and a magnetic eld was
applied as outlined in the experimental section. Adsorption
of the beads to the microchip walls as well as non-specic
adsorption of beads to each other had to be minimised. For
this, the bead surface had been rigorously coated with
glycine. The pH of the buffer (pH 8.3) was signicantly
higher than the pI of glycine (pI 6.1) such that the
particle surfaces as well as the channel walls were
negatively charged and electrostatic repulsion was dominant. Furthermore, the buffer featured a low ionic strength
thus increasing electrostatic repulsion between beads and
between beads and wall. This approach proved valuable, as
agglomeration of particles within the sample reservoir did

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241

Table 1
The deection of 2.8 and 4.5 mm Dynabeads observed at different ow
rates
Flow rate (mL h1)

Outlet channel 2.8 mm

beads

Outlet channel 4.5 mm

beads

200
300
400
500
600

3
23
23
2
12

Intermittent ow
Intermittent ow
35
34
3

not occur and also sticking of the particles to the channel

walls was not prevalent.
The deection behaviour of 2.8 and 4.5 mm particles was
observed for different ow rates as summarised in Table 1.
At slow ow rates of 200 and 300 mL h1, the 2.8 mm
particles were found to be deected towards exits 2 and 3.
However, the 4.5 mm particles did not ow smoothly
through the chamber, as the magnetically induced ow
vector umag (see Eq. (1)) on these particles was too strong in
comparison to the applied ow vector uhyd. More
specically, the magnetic ow vector has a component in
z-direction, i.e. pulling the particles upwards. At these low
pumping rates, the drag of the applied ow was not strong
enough to pull the particles along through the chamber.
For 400 and 500 mL h1, both types of particles were
deected, the smaller particles mainly into exit 2, the larger
particles mainly into exit 3 or 4. Hence, separation of a
mixture of particles could be achieved at these ow rates.
At the faster ow rate of 600 mL h1, the 2.8 mm Dynabeads
were hardly deected anymore and some of them even left
via outlet number 1. In this case, the applied ow vector
uhyd was dominant over the magnetically induced ow
vector umag and thus almost no deection was observed.
Hence, this ow rate was not suitable for the separation of
the particles from each other and from non-magnetic
materials at the same time.
Statistical data was obtained from video footage by
counting the number of particles per exit. This was
undertaken for the 2.8 and 4.5 mm particles individually
at ow rates of 400 and 500 mL h1 over a period of 10 min
each. The results are given in Fig. 6a for 400 mL h1 and
Fig. 6b for 500 mL h1. At 400 mL h1 the two particle
populations could be differentiated, the smaller particles
were deected towards exits 2 and 3, the larger particles
deected towards exits 35. However, there was some
overlap at exit 3. For 500 mL h1, a complete differentiation
was achieved. The 2.8 mm particles went almost exclusively
into exit 2, while the 4.5 mm particles were deected
towards exits 3 and 4. The particle throughput at the ow
rate of 400 mL h1 was approximately 20 particles min1,
for 500 mL h1 the throughput was approximately 25
particles min1.
Mixtures of 2.8 mm particles and 4.5 mm particles were
separated repeatedly at ow rates of 400 and 500 mL h1.

Fig. 6. The separation of mixtures of 2.8 and 4.5 mm Dynabeads at ow

rates of (a) 400 mL h1 and (b) 500 mL h1.

Photographs from a video sequence are shown in Fig. 7a

for 400 mL h1 and in Fig. 7b for 500 mL h1.
4.3. Magnetic force on particles
As described in the theory section, the magnetic force on
the particles can be estimated according to Eq. (2), by
measuring the magnetically induced velocity, umag. At
400 mL h1, the particles took about 12 s to ow through
the chamber. The 2.8 mm particles were deected towards
outlet number 2, corresponding to a deection in ydirection of between 0.40 and 0.55 mm. The 4.5 mm
particles were deected towards outlet number 4 and 5,
corresponding to approximately 1.201.45 mm. In the case
of 500 mL h1, the particles took about 9 s to pass through
the chamber. The smaller particles were deected towards
outlet number 2, corresponding to 0.350.45 mm, the larger
particles towards outlet 3 and 4, corresponding to
0.91.1 mm. The calculated values for the magnetically
induced velocity, umag, and the magnetic force, Fmag are
listed in Table 2.

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242

Fig. 7. Photograph sequence of the separation of a mixture of 2.8 and 4.5 mm magnetic particles at (a) 400 mL h1 and (b) 500 mL h1.

Table 2
Estimated force on magnetic particles based on the observed deection
Particle
diameter (mm)

Flow rate
(mL h1)

umag (mm s1)

Fmag (pN)

2.8
2.8
4.5
4.5

400
500
400
500

0.030.05
0.040.05
0.100.12
0.100.12

0.81.3
1.11.3
4.35.1
4.35.1

The ow velocity and force values in the table are given

as a range. They were calculated for the lowest and highest
deection typically observed for a given particle population
at a given ow rate. The magnetically induced force on the
particles, Fmag, is in the order of pN. Force values for a
given particle type are similar at both tested ow rates. This
should be expected, as the magnetic force as such is
given by the magnetic eld, which is constant and
independent of a change in ow rate. The force on the
2.8 mm particles is considerably lower than the force on the
4.5 mm particles.
The magnetic force as shown in Eq. (2) is proportional to
the particles magnetic susceptibility, w, and volume. In
case of the 2.8 mm diameter particle, wr3 equals
2.9
1022 m6 kg1, for the 4.5 mm diameter particles, this
value is 1.8
1021 m6 kg1. The ratio of wr3 for the 4.5 mm
particles to the 2.8 mm particles is 4:1. This would be the
theoretically expected ratio of the magnetic forces on
the two particles. The experimentally observed ratio of the
forces is closer to 6:1. A more thorough investigation
would have to be carried out in order to draw conclusions.
One contributing factor would be, that the exact size of the
magnetite core within the Dynabead is not known. Only
the outer diameter of the particle, including the polymer
shell is given by the manufacturer.

4.4. Laser light scattering detection

So far, particle counting had been undertaken by
observation from video footage. This was feasible for the
relatively slow ow rates employed in these experiments,
i.e. o1 mm s1. However, the particles were rather difcult
to see, as they are fairly small in comparison to the channel
width. Alternative particle counting methods include
counting based on uorescence and scattering signals
[1416] or counting based on the Coulter principle
[1719]. In our laboratory, a setup was readily available
for particle counting based on laser light scattering
detection [13]. This method, however, was optimised for
counting of particles at much faster ow rates (1 m s1) and
for particles that were hydrodynamically focussed into the
middle of a microchannel.
In the free-ow magnetophoresis chip, no hydrodynamic
focussing of the particle stream is possible. To avoid
background scattering from the channel walls, the laser
beam was positioned just upstream the outlet channel
junction and the laser beam diameter was adjusted to
about 100 mm, i.e. the width of the outlet channel.
The scattering signal intensity of the particles was
expected to be widespread, depending whether a particle
would ow through the centre of the laser beam or
off the centre. A typical example of a scattering trace
is shown in Fig. 8 obtained from deected 4.5 mm
magnetic particles at outlet channel number 4. Data
was acquired over a period of 5 min. In Fig. 8, a
section of 35 s is presented for clarity. As expected,
the intensities of the signals varied considerably.
Standard deviations of around 100% were observed,
however, the number of particles passing through the
beam could clearly be detected. Only those particles
creeping along the channel wall or passing through the
periphery of the laser beam could not be distinguished
from the background noise.

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243

from the sample inlet owed straight through the chamber

into exit number 1. While this result demonstrates how
free-ow magnetophoresis can separate magnetic particles
and non-magnetic crystals from each other, it also highlights that laser light scattering detection is not a specic
detection method but rather universal. For more specic
counting of magnetic particles, new methods are currently
being developed, for example, miniaturised Hall sensors
[2022] or miniaturised giant magnetoresistive sensors
[2325].
5. Discussion

Fig. 8. Traces of scattering signals obtained for the 4.5 mm diameter

Dynabeads at outlet number 4. The traces were detected by two optical
bres positioned at 251 and 351 with respect to the incident laser beam.

Fig. 9. Signals detected by both optical bres for a mixture of 2.8 and
4.5 mm particles at the respective outlets.

Laser light scattering signals were measured for a

mixture of 2.8 mm Dynabeads and 4.5 mm Dynabeads, that
were magnetophoretically separated at a ow rate of
500 mL h1. The laser was positioned in front of exits 1, 2,
3, 4 and 5 and data was collected for 5 min at each exit. The
number of detected signals per exit is plotted in Fig. 9.
It can be seen that most signals were detected at outlet
channel number 2 and 4, i.e. where the 2.8 and 4.5 mm
Dynabeads would be expected to exit (see Fig. 6b). Some
signals were also detected at outlets 3 and 5 and at outlet
number 1. On visual inspection, however, it became
apparent, that salt crystals had formed within the sample
reservoir and these were pulled through the separation
chamber alongside the magnetic particles. The salt crystals

In this paper the separation of magnetic particles from

each other as well as from non-magnetic material was
demonstrated. Differentiation between particles is based on
the particles magnetic susceptibility and its radius. Single
particles of different magnetic characteristics were separated. A rst investigation into detection of separated
particles was also undertaken.
A number of further improvements could be incorporated into the system in order to achieve (i) less distribution
in particle deection for a given particle population and
(ii) a higher throughput of particles. The distribution in
deection is caused by (a) a wide spread in starting
positions when the particles enter the separation chamber
through the 100 mm wide inlet channel and (b) by
variations in the size and magnetic susceptibility of a given
particle population. The uidic design could thus be
further improved by signicantly reducing the width of
the sample inlet stream from its current 100 mm in order to
achieve identical start positions for each particle when
entering the separation chamber. The distribution in
particle deection however also depends on the homogeneity of the magnetic particles themselves. Some authors
have reported that the magnetic properties, at least of
2.8 mm Dynabeads show signicant variations [23,26]. The
throughput of particles in these experiments, i.e. a few tens
of particles per minute, was somewhat low. Increasing the
throughput by increasing the particle concentration beyond 105 particles mL1 is not easily feasible, since nonspecic particle agglomerates would then be readily
formed. The throughput could be improved by increasing
the ow rate. This is only possible, if at the same time the
magnetic force on the particles can be increased, i.e. by
designing a magnetic eld with larger eld gradients. The
magnetic design used in these experiments was fairly
primitive with eld gradients of 100200 mT mm1. There
are many examples of more sophisticated magnetic designs
in combination with microuidic applications [10]. Some of
these feature tapered magnet tips in order to achieve higher
ux gradients [27,28], others use pairs of magnets with their
poles facing each other in order to achieve gradients of
several thousand mT per mm [29] Assuming an improvement of the magnetic force on the particles by a factor 10,
the ow rate could and thus the throughput could be
increased by factor 10.

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N. Pamme et al. / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 307 (2006) 237244

The described form of magnetic separation has a variety

of possible applications. Different types of magnetic
particles could, for example, be coated with different
antibodies and incubated with a sample. The targeted
antigens would attach themselves to the appropriate beads
and after magnetophoretic separation could be separated
from each other for downstream applications. Similarly,
the particles could be targeted for cells, DNA sequences,
RNA, organelles and so forth. Another potential application is the separation of magnetic cells, not only cells
labelled with magnetic particles but also naturally magnetic
cells, such as red blood cells, containing iron, and
magnetotactic bacteria, containing small magnetic crystals
[30]. Free-ow magnetophoresis offers a valuable addition
to the currently employed immuno-magnetic separation
techniques.
Acknowledgements
Nicole Pamme would like to thank Helke Reinhardt for
assistance with chip fabrication, Alexander Iles for comments on the manuscript and Asahi Kasei Corp., Fuji,
Japan, for funding.
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