Sheathless inertial cell ordering for extreme throughput flow cytometry.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics
• Cellular Analysis

Background:

• Accurate cell type differentiation is crucial for research and medicine.
• Flow cytometry is standard for cell analysis but limited by low throughput for rare cells.
• Existing methods struggle with analyzing rare cells in dilute solutions efficiently.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a label- and sheath-free parallel flow cytometry system with extreme throughput.
• To overcome the throughput limitations of traditional flow cytometry for rare cell analysis.
• To demonstrate a proof-of-concept for automated blood cell counting at high speeds.

Main Methods:

• Utilized inertial effects within a microfluidic device containing 256 parallel channels.
• Achieved particle/cell focusing to a uniform z-position and downstream velocity.
• Employed high-speed optical interrogation for parallel cell analysis.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a sample rate up to 1 million cells per second.
• Achieved precise cell focusing (SD = +/-1.81 microm) and uniform velocity (U(ave) = 0.208 +/- 0.004 m s(-1)).
• Obtained high counting sensitivity and specificity (86-97%) for RBC and leukocyte counts in diluted whole blood.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfluidic device enables label- and sheath-free parallel flow cytometry at extreme throughputs.
• This approach significantly enhances speed for cell analysis compared to conventional methods.
• Potential for cost-effective hematology and rare-cell analysis platforms with integrated imaging.