Matt Bausch ’16, Aaron Neaves ’16, and David Han ’17 presented at the 59 Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society in Baltimore, Maryland, February 8-11.
With over 7,000 attendees, the annual meeting of the Biophysical Society is the largest gathering of biophysicists around the world. At this year’s meeting, three students working with Associate Professor Ben Evans presented their work on a suite of magnetic microstructures useful in a variety of biomedical applications.
Junior Matt Bausch, a double major in physics and finance, presented “The effect of inter-particle interactions on heating efficiency in magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia: an experimental model,” which describes his contributions to the development of hyperthermia therapeutics, a new, drug-free therapy for the treatment of cancer. Bausch’s work seeks to understand the physical mechanisms underlying remote heating of magnetic nanoparticles, to better inform the design of future therapeutics.
Junior Aaron Neaves (Chemistry, BS) presented his work on an actuatable array of microscopic ciliary structures. This work, “High-density, high aspect ratio silicone post arrays for magneto-optical biosensing and targeted cell capture,” may lead to the development of more rapid or more sensitive assays for medical diagnostics.
In “High-magnetization silicone microbeads with low autofluorescence for biotech applications,” sophomore David Han (Engineering Physics, BS) demonstrated the production of a novel magnetic microsphere which represents a significant advance over currently available products. This sphere may be incorporated into existing diagnostic products to improve speed or sensitivity.
Also in attendance were associate professor Ben Evans and junior chemistry major Tom Riley. Riley has begun work on exploring the capability of the lab’s magnetic microspheres to absorb, deliver, and release a drug upon magnetic stimulation.