Experimental Study of Magnetic Nanoparticles for Magnetic Separation DNA/RNA

This work is dealing with the magnetic characterization of magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) as nucleic acid separation reagents in RT-PCR assays. We have designed core-multishell nanoparticle system that with the aid of specific ligand on the nanoparticle surface increases the efficiency of the separation of nucleic acids and genetic material during RT-PCR testing. The Fe 3 O 4 -SiO 2 core-shell nanoparticles with magnetic core size 10 nm and silica shell thickness 3 nm have been modified by the outer layer consisting of 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propylmethacrylate (TPMC). The specific surface layer provides larger area and higher number of binding centers for DNA/RNA when compared with commercial Fe 3 O 4 -SiO 2 Kit. Our study shows that despite of significant increase of NP size after ligand functionalization ( D ~ 22 nm), the feasible magnetic properties have been preserved and are similar to commercial Kit. With the conservation of magnetic properties and improvement of binding potential, we have obtained enhanced efficiency in separation of DNA/RNA molecules when compared to commercial NPs.