Prototype of a Magnetic Separator
- Description
- In 1981, Dr. Curt Civin, at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, identified an antibody that binds to a protein on the surface of certain bone marrow cells that give rise to all other blood and lymph cells. This affinity offered a means for capturing those cells for transplantation. Between 1987 and 1992, four patents were issued to Johns Hopkins University and assigned for commercial development to Becton Dickinson and Company and the Baxter Healthcare Corporation.
- Dr. Alan Hardwick, a bioengineer with Baxter's Biotech Group in Santa Ana, California, designed and built a prototype magnetic separator—using antibody-coated paramagnetic microbeads—for isolating target proteins from human plasma in 1988. An improvement in design the following year included a mixing device so that the target cells and antibody-coated microbeads better came into contact with each other. (A few of these prototypes were built, and one is the object donated to the Smithsonian.) System enhancements continued, allowing the instrument to handle larger volumes of suspended cells, with a commercial version, known as "Isolex," introduced in 1992.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Bone Marrow Stem Cell Isolator
- patentee
- Johns Hopkins University
- maker
- Hardwick, Alan
- designer
- Hardwick, Alan
- Physical Description
- plastic (overall material)
- metal (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 17.2 cm x 25.4 cm x 50.2 cm; 6 3/4 in x 10 in x 19 3/4 in
- ID Number
- 1997.0076.01
- accession number
- 1997.0076
- catalog number
- 1997.0076.01
- subject
- Health & Medicine
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Biological Sciences
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- Additional Media
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