Magnetic carriers are unique nano-materials with a wide range of biomedical, environmental, and technological impacts. This international event will bring scientists, engineers, medical professionals, and program managers together to discuss this rapidly growing and highly interdisciplinary field. Magnetic particles are an enabling technology for a wide variety of biomedical, chemical, electronic, and functional materials research because they provide a unique handle to manipulate and sense nanostructures. Because this field benefits especially well from cross-fertilization of ideas from chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering, it is our goal to create a technical and social environment in which participants from diverse disciplines can discuss trends in research and form collaborations. Three specific topic areas will be highlighted. (i) Biosensors for therapeutics and imaging, (ii) Magnetic separations, and (iii) biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles.