1. Name: Student, Victor C.
High School: Cypress Bay High School, Weston, FL 33332
ResearchAdvisor: Dr. Kyle Allen, University of Florida, Gainesville
ResearchSite: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville
Magnetic Nanoparticles and Microneedle Tips that Collect Biomarkers for Safe, Early-Stage
Osteoarthritis Diagnosis and Monitoring
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating joint disease involving degradation of both articular cartilage
and subchondral bone, affecting 28 million adults in the United States alone. Because of a dearth
of technologies that can successfully diagnose early-stage OA, we are developing a technique
deemed magnetic harvesting to retrieve OA biomarkers from synovial fluid (SF). The goal of
magnetic harvesting is to bind OA antibodies to superparamagnetic iron oxide particles
(SPIONS), inject them into a joint, and later retrieve the antibody-biomarker conjugates. Hence,
we tested how well magnetic needles can collect SPIONS. Two methods, the magnetic plate and
centrifugation, to transfer supernatant SF whilst leaving particles intact were tested, and the more
efficient one was used for ELISA. An ELISA was done to measure time dependence for
collection of CTX-II biomarkers. The magnetic needles were found to be highly efficient at
collecting SPIONS, collecting 91%, 93%, and 97% SPIONS in three trials. Centrifugation,
which transferred 100% supernatant cleanly, was more effective than the magnetic plate, which
transferred 80% supernatant cleanly. Human error such as accidently pipetting some particles
into the pipet tip likely hindered the efficacy of the magnetic plate. The optimal time for needle
incubation to collect particles + CTXII was found to be ~80-90 min. This data suggests that from
0-80~90 min magnetic needles collect an increasing amount of particles and CTX-II, but any
time >90 min decreases the efficiency.
Reference List
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osteoarthritis and pain." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National
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Xiaofeng Li, and Jing Luo. "Risk factors for and prevalence of knee osteoarthritis in the rural
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