The continuous flow separation of magnetic particles from a mixture of particles could improve the performance of magnetic bead based assays but the formation of agglomerates limit the separation efficiency. Bead agglomerates are formed as a result of magnetic binding forces while the hydrodynamic fluid environment strongly influences their movement. The ability to predict the interaction between nearby beads will help to determine a threshold separation distance which will be recommended for use when obtaining measurement within a magnetic bead assay for a specified time interval. The introductory part of this thesis explored the development of a two dimensional numerical model in Matlab which predicts the trajectory pattern as well as magnetic induced velocities between a pair of super-paramagnetic beads suspended in water within a uniform field. The movement of a bead pair interacting due to both magnetic and hydrodynamic forces within a magnetophoretic system was recorded using an optical system; the beads' movements were compared with the simulated trajectories and gave a good agreement. The model was used to predict the shortest agglomeration time for a given separation distance which is of practical benefit to users of bead based assays. The concluding part of this thesis expanded the simulation into a three dimensional model to predict the interactions among three super-paramagnetic beads within a magnetophoretic system. In order to determine the height of the magnetic beads, a Huygens-Fresnel model was implemented in Matlab which was compared with off-focused diffracted images of the beads viewed under an optical system. A good comparison was obtained by comparing the simulated three-dimensional trajectories with experimental data.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:730336 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Oduwole, Olayinka |
| Contributors | Sheard, Steve |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f01cbb33-4dd4-4057-8891-7097e6493bce |
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