Magnetism in Biomaterials Network
The Magnetism in Biomaterials Network (also known as MagInBio) are a group of physicists, chemists, engineers and medical researchers who are trying to link fundamental physics research with cutting edge medical and bio-engineering.
There are many ways that researchers are trying to utilise magnetism in medicine and biology, but our understanding of these fields have long been separated along disciplinary lines.
If interdisciplinary collaboration can bridge the two, there may be an abundance of potential new research directions – both in terms of addressing challenges and building a body of academic discourse.
By addressing the current challenges around communicating across different theoretical languages, and supporting experts to collaborate across these disciplinary boundaries, the network hopes to explore the potential benefits to cardiovascular health, infection control and neural health, among other areas.
Network leads
Led by Dr Timothy Moorsom, Dr Ben Hanson and Professor Sikha Saha, the network leads work collaboratively and inclusively, aiming to bring together researchers from a wide range of disciplines, backgrounds and career stages.
Ben Hanson says: “Biological systems can be viewed as incredibly complex physical systems, encompassing a wide range of mechanical, chemical and electrical processes all interacting with one another. While magnetism has been historically neglected from biophysical models, new evidence is emerging that suggests the possibility of magnetism being relevant at the smallest length scales.
“We believe it is time to revisit these ideas from an interdisciplinary perspective, to understand why magnetism was originally neglected in the development of biological physics, to what extent it may be relevant now, and to empower researchers to pursue these questions themselves.”
Tim Moorsom says: “It’s generally assumed magnetism has very weak effects on biological systems, and this consensus was reached in the mid 20th Century. However, having studied magnetism since 2012, I’m aware that our understanding of magnetism at the nano-scale has come a long way since then.
“There is a lot of great work going on introducing magnetism to biological systems at the mesoscale, for example using magnetic particles, but we are interested in seeing if the latest advances in magnetism can be used to push that further, even down to the scale of single molecules.”
Sikha Saha says: “The interaction between weak magnetic fields and biological systems is a rapidly growing field of investigation. Weak magnetic fields have been reported to have effects on key biological processes, such as cell proliferation and differentiation, gene expression, blood coagulation, reactive oxygen species development, neuronal activities and many other functions.
“However, despite the increasing number of studies on the interaction of weak magnetic fields with biomolecules, many gaps in our knowledge remain.
“Through this network we are interested in bringing together researchers with interdisciplinary skills to better understand these magnetic effects on biological systems and their therapeutic potential for clinical use.”
Join the network
Throughout 2025, the MagInBio Network aims to hold a series of events to help build a community of researchers interested in exploring the application of magnetism in medicine and health, including a discovery event in February and their official network launch in April.
If you would like to join the network, or stay informed of their work, please sign up to the network via this MS Form.
You can also email the MagInBio team via MagInBio@leeds.ac.uk