Randomnes makes some computations simpler, now it can be done in a single MRAM-like device. IEEE spectrum interviewed Prof. Wang and Yang on their device, find the interview here.

Congratulations to Xuan Li, who has successfully defended his PhD thesis on December 18. His dissertation topic is Iron Nitride based Magnetoresistance Devices for Spintronic Applications. 

Congrats again, Dr. Li!

Congratulations to Todd Klein, who has successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis on December 14. His dissertation topic is Development of GMR Biosensors and Systems for Early Disease Detection.

Diqing's poster titled “Giant Magnetoresistance Based Handheld Platform for Rapid Detection of Influenza A Virus” has received the Best Poster Award in her poster session with over 100 posters in total. The MMM conference is held in Pittsburgh, US this year, and has attracted researchers from all over the world for the discussion of a variety of topics on magnetism and magnetic materials.

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have successfully developed and tested a prototype of Z-Lab, a portable diagnostic platform designed to perform on site testing of biological samples for various ailments. This is the first version of the prototype developed for point-of-care diagnostics. The details of the device and results of the test are reported in the paper “Portable GMR Handheld Platform for the Detection of Influenza A Virus” published recently in ACS Sensors.

Our bio-group has successfully developed a portable diagnostic platform, Z-Lab, which is capable of performing on site testing of Influenza A Virus (IAV) in swine with minimum sample handling and laboratory skill requirements. Influenza virus, if present in the sample, will cause magnetic tags to bind to the GMR sensor through a sandwich structure, resulting in change in MR.

Congratulations to Kai, who has successfully defended his PhD thesis on August 23. His dissertation topic is Magneto-Nanosensor Platforms for Biosensing Applications. 

Congratulations to Kai Wu and co-workers! Their joint work “Characterizing Physical Properties of Superparamagnetic Nanoparticles in Liquid Phase Using Brownian Relaxation” published in Small was selected as Back Cover in volume 13, issue 22 (Small 22/2017).

Congratulations to Diqing Su, Jianxin Zhu, and Xudong Hang, who have successfully passed their PhD Oral Exams! Cheers!

Jun-Yang Chen and co-workers have created a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) that can be switched by a pulse of light lasting one trillionth of a second, setting a speed record. The magnetic tunnel junction is a device critical to information technology with the termination of Moore’s law, a principle that has ruled the microelectronics industry for five decades.