ABSTRACT
Magnetic separation of cells, bacteria and proteins has been performed for various purposes as described in this chapter. Recently, magnetic separation of cellular organelles has attracted attention because this technique provides profound knowledge about proteins on/in cellular organelles or can provide quick diagnosis for certain diseases. Conventional separation of cellular organelles has been performed by cell fractionation, which takes a long time and is difficult to purify without contamination depending on the target organelles. On the other hand, magnetic separation is able to isolate the target organelles specifically by using the antigen–antibody reaction or incorporation of the magnetic particle into the target organelle. In this chapter, several meaningful studies on magnetic separation of cellular organelles such as endosomes, exosomes and mitochondria are introduced. Finally, the ideal performance of magnetic particles for versatile magnetic separation of cellular organelles is discussed.
