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Magnetism combines well with organisms, since magnetic fields penetrate in most aqueous solutions and hardly interact with bio-chemical processes. Magnetic fields can for instance be used to apply forces and torques (using either magnetic particles or non-magnetic particles in magnetic fluids), to heat magnetic particles by induction or to detect their presence. Our research team combines magnetic fields with microfluidic systems to study fundamental behavior of magnetic particles in solutions, or non-magnetic particles in magnetic solutions and to apply this in life sciences. Of special interest are magneto-tactic bacteria, which are self-propelling and can be controlled without having to apply large magnetic field gradients. We study manipulation of individual magneto-tactic bacteria inside micro-fluidic systems as model systems for future self-propelled medical micro-robots.

Contact: Prof. dr. ir. Leon Abelmann, Saarbrücken, Germany