Spirulina platensis were chosen as templates to produce microscopic helical soft-core magnetic particles by way of depositing ferromagnetic alloy onto their surface using electroplating technique, and the process of electroplating ferromagnetic alloy onto microorganism cells was studied. The morphology and appearance of the coated Spirulina platensis were analyzed with optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, respectively, and the ingredients and phase structure of the alloy coating were analyzed with energy dispersive X-ray detector (EDX) and X-ray diffractive analysis (XRD), respectively. The result showed that the particles were successfully coated with uniform metal coating and their initial helical shape was perfectly replicated. The coating was NiFe alloy, and its phase structure was face-centered cubic structure. The magnetic properties of the coated particles were tested with vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and the result showed that the particles were ferromagnetic, which means the magnetic electroplating of the microorganism cells was successfully achieved. The electrochemical reaction mechanism of the magnetic plating process was also analyzed; the result showed that the deposition of NiFe on the microorganism cells was anomalous codeposition, and that Fe 2+ ion was preferential deposited when magnetic stirring was applied. bio-limited forming, microorganism, helical particles, electroplating, magnetic metallization Citation: Cai J, Zhang D Y, Lan M M, et al. Research on magnetic metallization of microorganism cells using electroplating technique. Sci China Tech Sci, 2011, 54: 15251531,