Figure 3.
Characterizing the self-assembled magnetic filter. The self-assembled magnetic filter was tested by filtering a population of magnetic beads from polystyrene beads. Flow cytometry quantified the bead population before (a) and after (b) the filtration. (c) The self-assembled magnetic filter achieves a very high enrichment and recovery ratio, enhancing the population of polystyrene beads to magnetic ones by a factor of >105 while retaining ~ 90% of the polystyrene beads. The enrichment and recovery ratio were measured for several flow rates. A control device that has not been magnetized showed no enrichment and a similar recovery rate. The enrichment and recovery ratio were shown to depend on flow rate.