The traditional way to check whether a Biomagnetic Separation Production process is complete is by sight. The technician/researcher looks at the suspension. At the beginning of the process the suspension is homogenous and opaque. When the separation process is complete, the magnetic beads are left on the walls of the vessel and the supernatant is transparent. When the suspension is ‘transparent’, the technician stops the process by extracting the supernatant, leaving the magnetic beads in the bottle. After repeating the same process several times, a separation time can be defined and used as a benchmark. With the traditional method, the only quality control record is the OK/no OK signed by the person handling the vessel with no supporting data. In case of a quality issue with the product, this may not be detected until a later stage, and there is no data to show whether the problem occurred before, during or after the biomagnetic separation.
In contrast, by continuously monitoring the opacity of the suspension while inside the biomagnetic separation system, technicians have a record of its evolution during the process. Changes in opacity inside the biomagnetic separator should be the same if the suspension is the same. Changes to the properties of the magnetic beads (diameter, magnetic charge), concentration and/or viscosity of the buffer lead to different opacity, so any deviations from the expected pattern serve as an early warning system.
This article explains the advantages of monitoring biomagnetic separation processes. If you are interested in knowing more about this innovation download our free basic guide for monitoring bimagnetic separation processes:
If the process is documented with printed reports for every stage, acceptance parameters can be defined objectively, without subjective operator judgement. Moreover, cumulated experimental data allows teams (technicians, researchers and managers) to audit, analyze, revise and improve the Biomagnetic Separation steps of their manufacturing processes.
Related articles:
- Two simple concepts for a better understanding of your Biomagnetic Separation process
- Monitoring Biomagnetic Separation processes options and choices
