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| For further information please contact Nader Pourmand |
Spin valves are low-cost, sensitive devices that read data from a computer’s hard disk at high speeds. This collaboration is working on the development of planar arrays of these devices in conjunction with magnetic nanoparticles as detection tags, allowing us to build low-cost, sensitive detectors for biological applications. We are developing new types of nanoparticles, more sensitive device geometries, and appropriate bioconjugation and surface chemistry to make this system work. We are able to detect down to 20 magnetic nanoparticles, giving us an enormous sensitivity advantage. We can reduce the amount of sample required, and in many cases, eliminate the need for the slow and expensive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the target species. We intend to use an all-electronic detection system, eliminating the need for expensive optical scanning read-out systems.