Iran Ranks 2nd in World in Cell Isolation Technology

The knowledge-based Sepid Jamegan company in Iran has produced the prototype MACS system used for cell isolation.

The system has been produced through hi-tech technology and Germany was the first country which had manufactured the MACS.

“The system can separate the target cells among a number of cells and it is also able to isolate molecular samples labeled with magnetic particles,” Moayyed Dehqanpour, the manager of Sepid Jamegan, said on Tuesday.

He added that MACS has different applications, including treatment of MS disease and different types of cancers and even production of plackets.

Magnetic-Activated Cell Sorting (MACS) is a method for separation of various cell populations depending on their surface antigens (CD molecules) invented by Miltenyi Biotec. The name MACS is a registered trademark of the company.

The method was developed with Miltenyi Biotec’s MACS system, which uses superparamagnetic nanoparticles and columns. The superparamagnetic nanoparticles are of the order of 100 nm. They are used to tag the targeted cells in order to capture them inside the column. The column is placed between permanent magnets so that when the magnetic particle-cell complex passes through it, the tagged cells can be captured. The column consists of steel wool which increases the magnetic field gradient to maximize separation efficiency when the column is placed between the permanent magnets.

Magnetic-activated cell sorting is a commonly used method in areas like immunology, cancer research, neuroscience, and stem cell research. Miltenyi sells microbeads which are magnetic nanoparticles conjugated to antibodies which can be used to target specific cells.