| Current research in drug delivery is aimed at achieving a more localized delivery in the human body. Existing types of delivery including intravenous, inhalation, oral, or topical methods deliver drugs to different parts of the body, most of which are not the target of the treatment. The goal is to develop a process that is safer, more cost effective, and produces fewer side effects. Magnetically-assisted controlled nanoparticle transport is capable of achieving these goals. This new approach has nanometer resolution and can be used with magnetic particles of a wide range of shapes and sizes. Geometrically confined magnetic nanowires have several unique properties that enable for the fine control of magnetic particles. Namely, by carefully engineering the shape of the nanowire, magnetic domain walls with a strong, localized, out-of-plane magnetic field can be moved through the wire in a very well-defined way. These magnetic domain walls can be propagated along the magnetic nanowires by applying the appropriate external magnetic field. It is shown that a magnetic particle is attracted to the location of a domain wall in our magnetic structures in a fluidic environment, and that these magnetic particles can be propagated along the structure. In order to realize a complete delivery system, several additional components are investigated. These include the nanoscale magnetic analogue of a syringe, a sensor for detecting the presence of a magnetic particle, and multichannel particle systems for the simultaneous delivery of several magnetic particles. Results show that nanometer precision magnetic delivery has the potential to be a better alternative to existing drug administration methods. In addition, this technique is not limited to drug delivery, but can be extended to other areas of biomedical research. |
