The man behind the invention of Magnotech, Philips Research Fellow, Professor Menno Prins, talks about the technology’s simplicity. His starting point was the need to develop blood and saliva testing that can be carried out in a more patient friendly way, capable of providing speed, ease-of-use, and robustness with accuracy as in laboratory tests. The challenge was to develop a compact, handheld biosensor that was sensitive enough to measure substances such as hormones, drugs, proteins and nucleic acids. These substances have concentrations that are orders of magnitude lower than glucose. Magnotech is the outcome. This new type of biosensor technology uses magnetic nanoparticles to measure picomolar concentrations of target substances in blood or saliva in a matter of minutes. Integrated into a disposable biosensor cartridge that inserts into a handheld analyzer, it automatically fills itself from a single drop of blood or saliva. Once filled, no other fluid movement is required. The entire assay process within the cartridge is executed by controlled movement of the magnetic nanoparticles within the cartridge using external magnetic fields.
The cartridge, constructed entirely from plastic components, has no moving parts or embedded electronics, and is disposable. The analyzer unit contains the electromagnets, optical detection system, control electronics, software and the read-out display.
Prof dr Menno Prins is Research Fellow at Philips Research and also a part-time professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. He heads the ‘Molecular Biosensors for Medical Diagnostics’ Group, part of the University’s Department of Applied Physics. | 
