Spherotech has several different designs of magnetic separators. These are used for separating both Paramagnetic and Ferromagnetic particles from a suspension. These designs accommodate different size tubes and other receptacles specific to various applications.

(A) The SPHERO™ FlexiMag Separator (Cat. No.: FMS-1000) accommodates tubes ranging from 1.5 mL microfuge tube to 200 mL tissue culture bottle. It uses interchangeable tube holders to secure different size tubes and bottles. The separator comes with a set of three tube holders, Small, Medium and Large. Additional holders can be purchased separately, if needed.
  a) The Small holder holds up to four 1.5 mL microfuge or four 10 or 12x75 mm test tubes (8 total).
  b) The Medium holder can hold two 15 mL centrifuge or two 16x100 mm tubes (4 total)
  c) The Large holder can hold two 50 mL centrifuge tubes (4 total).
  d) Two 200 mL tissue culture bottles directly without any tube holders.

(B) The SPHERO™ FlexiMag Separator Jr. (Cat. No.: FMJ-1000) holds up to eight 1.5 mL microfuge tubes, 5 mL cryovials, 10x75 mm or 12x75mm tubes.

(C) The SPHERO™ MicroMag Separator (Cat No. MMS-2100 and MMS-2000) are designed to fit any 96-well plate with round bottom, flat bottom or V bottom.

(D) The SPHERO™ HandiMag Separator is a 1"x2"x0.375" Neodymium-Iron-Boron high strength magnet with nickel coating . The HandiMag can be used to separate the magnetic particles in various containers such as microfuge tubes, test tubes or centrifuge tubes by holding the magnet against the wall of containers by hand or with a rubber band.

(E) The SPHERO™ MiniTube Mag Separator (Cat. No.: MTMS-16) holds up to sixteen 1.5 mL tubes.

(F) The SPHERO™ UltraMag Separator (Cat. No.: UMS-3000) and SPHERO™ UltraMag DW Separator (Cat. No.: UMDS-1000) are designed to facilitate the washing of magnetic particles in the Magnetic Particles Enzyme Immunoassay (MPEIA) using 96-well plates. The magnetic pegs of UltraMag Separator fit between the wells underneath the 96-well plate.

The microplate is read in an appropriate microtiter plate reader by loading the microplate with the attached UltraMag Separator into the reader. The magnets ensure that the magnetic particles stay out of light beam passing through the bottom of the well and corresponding holes in the UltraMag Separator.
A combination of magnetic particles as solid phase and conventional enzyme immuno assay (EIA) microplate technology offers significant advantages over the conventional EIA. Some of the advantages are listed below:
• Magnetic particles offer larger surface area and significantly faster reaction kinetics; thus, reducing the total time to complete an assay.
• Microparticles are washed more efficiently leaving less residual reactants, thus, lowering background signal and potentially improving sensitivity.
• Coating of magnetic particle is easier, gives a more uniform solid phase and helps to minimize lot-to-lot variation.

See the MAGNETIC SEPARATOR section of the TECHNICAL INFORMATION Page of the Spherotech website to see photos of several magnetic separators.