Evolving Magnetically Levitated Plasma Proteins Detects Opioid Use Disorder as a Model Disease.

There are several methods (e.g., enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy) that already use human plasma to detect a variety of possible diseases. However, this paper introduces the capabilities of magnetic levitation (Maglev) to detect disease (Opioid Use Disorder, used here as a model disease) by using levitation of human plasma proteins. The presented proof-of-concept findings revealed that the optical images of magnetically levitated plasma proteins carry important information about the health spectrum of plasma donors. In addition, the liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy analysis of the magnetically levitated plasma proteins demonstrated remarkable differences between the plasma of healthy individuals and patients with opioid use disorders. Overall, the presented method provides diagnostic value for disease detection using optical images of evolving magnetically levitated plasma proteins and/or proteomic information.