Magnetic Levitation Systems for Disease Diagnostics.

Magnetic levitation (MagLev) is a well-documented, robust technique for density measurements and separations. Although the potential of MagLev as an emerging tool in biotechnology has been recently investigated, the practical use of MagLev in diagnosis and disease detection merits further attention. This review highlights the diagnostic capacity of a simple and portable MagLev system and the possibilities and limitations of the MagLev technique for density-based separation, classification, and manipulation of soft matter and biological systems (e.g., cells, proteins), which in turn may pave the way for the discovery of disease-specific biomarkers. The magnetic levitation (MagLev) technique enables the separation, measurement, and analysis of a wide range of materials and biosystems. The simple, inexpensive, rapid, and energy-free MagLev technique can detect and separate useful biomarkers involved in disease progression from their complex environments, which has great potential in diagnostic and biomedical applications. MagLev can also rapidly identify and discriminate a variety of biomolecules as they experience various physiological conditions in a biological complex and consequently change density, including drug screening in personalized medicine. MagLev can furthermore detect changes in the density of biomolecules in certain diseases, creating a point-of-care device for diagnostic purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]