Bio-Medical Ferrofluids

For some applications, one approach for using Ferrofluid is to combine the fluid with a liquid monomer and creating a polymer with magnetic properties (i.e. magnetic plastic). The polymer can then be shaped and/or treated in some other way to make it useful in other applications.

For bio-medical applications, this process is typically used to create beads. Depending upon the diagnostic test, these beads (or micro-spheres) are then coated with material — such as target antibodies or DNA — and then used in the diagnostic process (immunoassay or molecular diagnostics (separation and amplification)).

For bio-medical applications, this micro-bead process is essential because it enables customers to coat or treat the particles and use them in a more advanced way than basic Ferrofluid.

Drawing on a base of over 30 years of experience producting ferrofluids, Ferrotec ferrofluid brings a unique offering to bead manufacturers -- a wide variety of Ferrofluid with a variety of performance characteristics that can be optimized for specific assays and diagnostic processes.

Some of the benefits include

• Better distribution of magnetic particles (less agglomeration) for better performance and more consistent performance with smaller beads
• Solutions that can increase the reaction surface area on the bead, increasing the bead’s performance