Spintronic Materials for New Biomedical and TechBio Applications

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Abstract
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An amazing range of new magnetic nanomaterials have been developed by the semiconductor and data storage industry as part of their adoption of spintronic technologies. Most of these materials are focused on the storage, retrieval and processing of digital data, e.g. hard disk drives in the Cloud or new designs of low energy microprocessors. But could these same materials be used for other things, outside of the world of digital data? In this talk I describe how we have re-tasked advanced magnetic nanomaterials for problems in biomedicine. Advanced material fabrication methods such as physical vapour deposition of ultrathin layers, combined with high resolution optical lithography allow magnetic microcarriers to be created which interface well with biological systems. I show a novel form of cancer therapy based on mechanical disruption of cellular structure using spinning magnetic nanostructures, our work towards early-stage detection of kidney cancer using magnetic nanostructures and work on cancer cells riding on the backs of barcoded nanostructured magnetic carriers for drug discovery.

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About the Speaker
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Russell Cowburn is Professor of Experimental Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, UK. He is also CEO of Durham Magneto Optics Ltd, a Cambridge-based deep technology company specializing in direct-write optical lithography. His research interests include the application of spintronics and magnetic nanomaterials to the life sciences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society.