Prototype of a Magnetic Separator
date: label: date made
content: 1989
name: label: patentee
content: Johns Hopkins University
label: maker
content: Hardwick, Alan
label: designer
content: Hardwick, Alan
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: The bone marrow stem cell isolator, used to separate out bone marrow stem cells from blood samples, found its beginnings in 1981 when Dr. Curt Civin at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center identified an antibody that binds to a protein on the surface of bone marrow stem cells. The antibody provided a unique way to identify bone marrow stem cells among mixtures of different kinds of cells. Bone marrow stem cells, also known as progenitor cells, have the capability to develop into any of the various blood cell types, including those which play a vital role in the immune response.
label: Description (Brief)
content: In 1988 Dr. Alan Hardwick, a bioengineer at Baxter Healthcare Corporation’s Biotech Group in Santa Ana, California, designed and built a prototype bone marrow stem cell isolator using Dr. Civin’s antibody. Hardwick bound the antibody to small beads, and then placed the beads in solution with a mixture of blood cells. The antibody coated beads bound only to the bone marrow stem cells, and could be separated from the rest of the blood cell solution with the use of a magnet. Once the stem cell-bound beads were separated out, an enzyme could be used to remove the cells from the antibody beads, providing a pure sample of bone marrow stem cells. This object is a second-round prototype of the machine, developed in 1989.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The machine, under the brand name “Isolex,” was on the market starting in 1992. Although it was specifically marketed as a way to build stem cell reserves to replace the blood and immune systems in cancer patients whose own systems were destroyed by chemotherapy, the machine was also popular in experimental research projects, such as gene therapy, that often use stem cells.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Source:
label: Description (Brief)
content: Accession File
label: Description (Brief)
content: “Companies Use Many Methods to Select Elusive Stem Cells.” Hugh McIntosh. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Vol. 88. No. 9. 1 May 1996. p.573.
label: Description (Brief)
content: “Varmus to Rule in Fight Over Cell-Sorting Technology.” Eliot Marshall. Science. Vol. 276. 6 June 1997.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Isolex Magnetic Cell Selection System Instructions.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Biological Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Cancer
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Cancer: Treatment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Biotech Group, Immunotherapy Division
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1997.0076.01
label: accession number
content: 1997.0076
label: catalog number
content: 1997.0076.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Bone Marrow Stem Cell Isolator
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 17.2 cm x 25.4 cm x 50.2 cm; 6 3/4 in x 10 in x 19 3/4 in