MOSCOW, December 14. IKBFU scientists, as part of an international team, presented a new composite material based on a ferromagnetic microwire. According to the authors, due to its unique magnetic properties, the material will serve as a sensitive element of a magnetic manipulator for contactless movement of living cells. Such developments are necessary to reduce the time for conducting automated and multi-marker medical studies and increase their efficiency. The results are presented in the Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials.
To date, projects to develop micromanipulators – devices that convert energy into controlled movement – have become increasingly relevant due to the growing interest in in vitro diagnostics (IVD) and Lab-on-a-Chip technologies, said specialists from the Baltic Federal University. I. Kant (IKBFU). Similar devices are used in robotics, control devices, astronautics, biomedicine and microsurgery, they specified.
In particular, these technologies aim to achieve the ability to use significantly smaller volumes of blood or other fluid samples compared to current methods. This diagnostic method requires the use of a compact device, which is applicable both in specialized research centers and in rapid response medical institutions, experts emphasized.
IKBFU scientists, together with foreign colleagues, have developed a new material with unique magnetic and magnetoelastic properties. According to experts, the microwire they created can become a key element of a micromanipulator for working with living cells.
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“In this project, we, together with colleagues from Spain, have developed a composite material – a ferromagnetic microwire with an asymmetrically deposited magnetic shell. Additional coating allows you to significantly expand the functionality of the material,” said junior researcher at the Scientific and Educational Center “Smart Materials and Biomedical Applications” IKBFU I. Kant Valeria Kolesnikova.
She explained that in the work, an amorphous soft magnetic microwire with a metal core composition of Fe77.5B15Si7.5 was chosen, and a polycrystalline shell (FeNi or Co) covered only half of the microwire along the axis. Studies were carried out on the structural and magnetic properties of the composites, in particular, the azimuthal static magnetic profile was restored using the Kerr magnetometry method.
In addition, it is important that the project brought together specialists from different fields of science. Such systems combine several methods and approaches and require the joint involvement of researchers from various fields of physics, biology, chemistry, medicine.
“Adhesive properties and surface roughness were also studied. Additional analysis shows “that composite microwires with soft/soft and soft/hard asymmetric shells behave differently in an external magnetic field,” said the specialist. This means that the properties of the manipulator can be “customized” depending on the application.
Kolesnikova noted that the team is now working on creating a digital twin of the composite – a computer model of the experiment, which, with the help of experimental data that verifies and corrects the model, will be able to predict the properties of a material based on given parameters.
IKBFU is a participant in the state support program for Russian universities “Priority-2030” of the national project “Science and Universities”.
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