Magnetic levitation of single cells
Abstract
Cells consist of micro- and nanoscale components and materials that contribute to their fundamental magnetic and density signatures. Previous studies have claimed that magnetic levitation can only be used to measure density signatures of nonliving materials. Here, we demonstrate that both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells can be levitated and that each cell has a unique levitation profile. Furthermore, our levitation platform uniquely enables ultrasensitive density measurements, imaging, and profiling of cells in real-time at single-cell resolution. This method has broad applications, such as the label-free identification and monitoring of heterogeneous biological changes under various physiological conditions, including drug screening in personalized medicine.
- Publication:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- July 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1509250112
- Bibcode:
- 2015PNAS..112E3661D