MIT Develops A White Blood Cell Magnet

One of the most incredible areas of gadgetry and technology is medicine. It is simply amazing to watch as doctors and researchers develop new technologies that have such an impact on the human race.

White Blood Cell Magnet

The image above is taken from a video of the white blood cell magnet in action. The magnet, developed by researchers at MIT separates the white blood cells from blood samples – a process that can have very significant implications in terms of the future of disease diagnosis.

A single white blood cell is just 15 micrometers in diameter and this technology utilizes P-selectin, which your body uses to attract white blood cells to injured tissue, to attract these tiny cells in order to analyze them and complete a white blood cell count.

What does this development mean for the future of disease diagnosis though? Through utilizing a microchip with this technology, doctors will be able to make a diagnosis based on white blood cell count without having to process multiple blood samples. This will make the blood sample required for diagnosis much smaller and will also make the diagnostic process much faster.

Putting this technology in to use is not on the horizon just yet, plenty more testing is required; however, there is no doubt that this technology works because it’s drawn on a model of how the human body channels white blood cells to injured tissue.

See this technology in action…

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