2019 ERC Consolidator Grants Disclosed

The European Research Council selected projects to be funded in the 2019 Consolidator Grants call. The projects of interest for the magnetism community are listed below. 

MALETINSKY Patrick
University of Basel (CH)
QS2DM: Quantum sensing of two-dimensional magnets

CERUTTI Benoit
National Center for Scientific Research - CNRS (FR)
SPAWN: Simulating particle acceleration within black hole magnetospheres

JACQUES Vincent
National Center for Scientific Research - CNRS
EXAFONIS: Exploring antiferromagnetic order at the nanoscale with a single spin microscope

Swarm Power: Magnetic Microrobot Swarms

ver since Richard Feynman’s famous 1959 speech, “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” scientists have considered what it would take to build a swallowable surgeon—one small enough to travel through our blood vessels and controlled enough to perform procedures at precise spots in the body.

They’ve made progress toward Feynman’s vision, to be sure: During the early 2000s, researchers designed individual catalytic micromotors that could propel themselves through liquid by creating gas bubbles from chemical fuels. And by 2009, a team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, had created a helical bot that was recognized by Guinness World Records as the “most advanced mini robot for medical use.” The tiny swimmer, about 20 μm long, made from semiconductor materials and controlled by a magnetic field, was designed to mimic the swirling flagella that bacteria use to move around (Appl. Phys. Lett. 2009, DOI: 10.1063/1.3079655).

Still, there’s a big difference between being the most advanced bot of the day and performing surgery as Feynman envisioned. Scientists are realizing that even the most sophisticated single swallowable surgeon won’t be sufficient to achieve that goal. Instead, they’re coming around to the idea that there is power in numbers.

As Metin Sitti, a microrobot expert at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, sees it: “Swarming is indispensable for the translation of microrobots into the clinic.”

In our community, we have seen many of these systems before. Check out a recent update about this field here in a C&EN article by Cici Zhang. In that article, there are also a few interesting videos of how the "microrobots" behave in a magnetic field.

Researchers Create Material That Uses Magnetic Fields to Transform

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology under the lead of Prof. H. Jerry Qi and Ohio State University under the lead of Prof. Ruike Zhao have developed a new soft magnetic shape polymer. It uses magnetic fields to transform into a variety of shapes. The team thinks that the new material could have a range of new applications from antennas that change frequencies on the fly to gripper arms for handling delicate or heavy objects. Check it out here.

The new material was created using a mixture of three ingredients: NdFeB and magnetite particles, as well as the acrylate-based shape-memory polymer that helps to lock various shapes into place.

The resulting material is the first that combines all of the strengths of the individual components into a single system. The system is capable of rapid and reprogrammable shape changes that are lockable and reversible. The researchers started making the material by distributing particles of neodymium iron boron and iron oxide into a mixture of shape memory polymers. When the particles were fully incorporated, the researchers molded the mixture into various objects designed to evaluate how the material performed in a series of applications.

The team created a gripper claw from a t-shaped mold of the polymer mixture. Applying a high-frequency, oscillating magnetic field caused the iron oxide particles to heat up and warm the entire gripper. That temperature rise caused the polymer to soften and become pliable. A second field then caused the gripper claws to open and close. Check out the movie here.

Magnetic Levitation Could Enable Faster Opioid Analysis

Street drugs can contain a wide range of compounds, including active ingredients like heroin and fentanyl along with various cutting agents. But many analytical techniques available to law enforcement officers are slow, require sophisticated equipment, or struggle to identify dilute compounds in mixtures. Researchers at Harvard University led by George Whitesides, in collaboration with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, have now demonstrated that magnetic levitation (maglev)—a technique that separates compounds on the basis of their density—can be used to analyze dilute compounds in powdered drug mixtures (Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2019, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201910177).

A maglev device consists of two magnets flanking a vial of a weakly magnetic fluid. As the fluid is drawn toward the magnets, it pushes the particles of a foreign substance into clusters that hover at a level corresponding to their density. To analyze drug mixtures, the Harvard team designed a new magnetic solution that can separate very fine particles without dissolving them. Using gadolinium(III) chelate complexes dissolved in a mixture of hexane and tetrachloroethylene, the researchers were able to separate most powdered drug mixtures within 30 minutes. By visually inspecting the device, users can determine whether a sample contains a particular compound and roughly how much of the compound is present. If needed, the isolated compounds can be extracted and further analyzed. The researchers envision that with further development, the device could be made available to law enforcement officers for field use.

To see a movie of how the device works, see here.

Robarts Home to Canada's First MPI System

Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) – considered the most promising and emerging imaging technology of the past 20 years – has arrived at Robarts Research Institute in London, Ontario, Canada. The MPI system will serve as the technological talisman for molecular and cellular imaging scientists at Robarts and bacteriologists, virologists and immunologists in Schulich Medicine & Dentistry’s Department of Microbiology & Immunology.

MPI is an innovative, ultrasensitive imaging modality that directly detects iron oxide nanoparticle tracers using magnetic fields. Researchers will use the system to track cells in models of disease and therapy, including immune cells used to treat cancer and stem cells for the treatment of neurological and vascular conditions.

“This research will allow for better understanding of disease progression, identification of successful treatments, and early and accurate detection of disease,” explained Paula Foster, PhD, Scientist at Robarts and Professor with the Department of Medical Biophysics.

This is Canada’s first MPI system and only the sixth in the world. “As a brand new imaging technology, there are unique opportunities to further develop the technique and push the limits of sensitivity for tracking cells, pathogens and molecules,” said Foster. “Nearly all experiments performed on this system will be first-ever.”

Funding for the equipment was provided through a Canada Foundation for Innovation Grant which supports Canada’s universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research organizations to increase their capability to carry out high quality research.

A Voice for Magnetism in Europe

The purpose of the European Magnetism Association (EMA) is to promote the development of magnetism and magnetic materials in Europe, through rising the visibility and the impact of research on fundamental and applied magnetism. EMA acts as an umbrella organization for activities in magnetism in Europe, giving magnetism a voice in the concert of physical sciences.

EMA addresses:
- Education and training in the field of magnetism
- Advancement in the understanding of magnetism
- Developments in magnetism and related applications
- Links with companies active in magnetic materials and devices
- Representation of the magnetism community worldwide
- Dissemination of the results of magnetism research in Europe
- Contribution to networking through a job market, agenda and newsletter

If you would like to receive EMA's newsletter, http://magnetism.eu/86-mailing.htm, or become a free member, then please visit their website: magnetism.eu.

Did You Know ...

… that H.C. Ørsted was awarded the pharmaceutical master's degree in 1797, and that he was strongly involved in the development of the pharmaceutical degree programme? His lectures were the first at the University of Copenhagen that women were allowed to attend. This is the reason why an Ørsted bust on a travertine pedestal adorns the main entrance to the PharmaSchool, Universitesparken 2. Remember, this is also not far where we had our 12th Magnetic Carrier meeting!

Next year is the 200th anniversary of Ørsted's discovery of electromagnetism. On 21 April 1820, during a lecture, Ørsted noticed a compass needle deflected from magnetic north when an electric current from a battery was switched on and off, confirming a direct relationship between electricity and magnetism.

His initial interpretation was that magnetic effects radiate from all sides of a wire carrying an electric current, as do light and heat. Three months later he began more intensive investigations and soon thereafter published his findings, showing that an electric current produces a circular magnetic field as it flows through a wire. For his discovery, the Royal Society of London awarded Ørsted the Copley Medal in 1820 and the French Academy granted him 3,000 francs.

Ørsted's findings stirred much research into electrodynamics throughout the scientific community, influencing French physicist André-Marie Ampère's developments of a single mathematical formula to represent the magnetic forces between current-carrying conductors. Ørsted's work also represented a major step toward a unified concept of energy.

Best Practices for Characterization of Magnetic Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications

The use of magnetic nanoparticles in biomedical applications provides a wealth of opportunities. Nonetheless, to truly understand the interactions of these materials in biological media, detailed characterization is necessary with these complex systems. Prof. Thompson Mefford together with Sarah E. Sandler and Benjamin Fellows just published an article that might be very helpful to many of our colleagues.

The article highlights some “best practices” in the analytical techniques and challenges in the measurement of the properties of these materials.

Check it out here, it is worth reading!