APPLICATION

The use of Nanomagnets to remove Pathogen in blood

Our body have its own immune system to prevent any pathogen or virus to prevent
our body from being infected to any harmful disease. But somehow, some of the virus or
pathogen may also invade our body.

Besides pathogens and viruses, some illness are caused due to failure of
accumulation of toxin in our body by the liver. This toxins may come from the daily nutrition
intake which some food that is consumed by us using some harm material or chemical that
can be toxic to our body.

Numerous pathogens can cause bloodstream infections (sepsis) and the most
straightforward cure is to remove the disease-causing factors from a patient's blood as
quickly as possible. Several methods, like dialysis and plasma filtration/exchange, are
already widely and routinely applied for this purpose.

Demonstrating a novel use of nanomagnets, researchers in Switzerland have rapidly

and selectively removed heavy metal ions, overdosed steroid drugs and proteins from
human blood. This nanomagnet-based purification method avoids fouling of filter
membranes and benefits from a high external surface area, and a correspondingly fast
diffusion.

By using magnetic metal nanomagnets carrying target-specific ligands, shows that

blood purification at a nano- to pico-molar scale is possible.

Toxins or pathogens can be selectively removed from whole blood within minutes.
Functionalized nanomagnets can access substances of different masses and sizes whereas
other blood purification techniques available on the market are hampered by filter cut offs or
slow pore diffusion in membranes. By contrast, the large, yet rapidly accessible surface of
the nanomagnets enables efficient adsorption.the scientist investigates the direct injection of
stable nanomagnets into whole blood for the efficient, magnetic-extraction-based
extracorporeal removal of low- and high-molecular-weight compounds. The work was carried
out in close collaboration with the group of Professor Beatrice Beck-Schimmer from the
University Hospital Zurich.

Magnetic blood purification requires high-strength nanomagnets (blood is viscous),

reliable functionalization (no loss of ligands; high accessibility), mixing, and particle collection
after target binding.In a typical experiment, adittion of predispersed nanomagnets is used to
fresh human whole blood. During gentle swinging, the nanomagnets scanned the liquid.

For their experiments, the researcher of ETH team synthesized carbon-coated iron
carbide nanomagnets with a mean diameter of 30 nanometers and subsequently
functionalized them with linker molecules and selective capturing moieties such as
antibodies.

After the nanomagnets acquired their targets, a small magnet was placed at the
sample tube wall accumulating the nanomagnets in the pole region of the external magnet.
The purified supernatant can then easily be decanted.

A wide range of substances of different chemical nature can be accessed with this
method – metal ions, small drug molecules, proteins. This technique also offers the potential
to simultaneously remove compounds very different in mass and size. Furthermore, the
nanomagnets can be accurately dosed.

The researcher is already working on a continuous implementation of magnetic blood

purification regarding later applications in clinics. Parts of the metal nanomagnet technology
are now being commercialized by an ETH spin-off company Turbobeads.