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Overview Of Cell Separation And Isolation

Overview Of Cell Separation And Isolation

Cell separation was first achieved in 1964 by S. H. Seal, who separated large tumor cells from the smaller blood cells using filtration. Two years later, Pohl and Hawk performed experiments on how cells respond differently to a nonuniform electric field based on the cell type. Such observations were the inception of cell separation methods, which allow isolating a single cell type from a heterogeneous sample.

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Updated: May 24, 2026

Label-free Isolation and Enrichment of Cells Through Contactless Dielectrophoresis

Label-free Isolation and Enrichment of Cells Through Contactless Dielectrophoresis

Published on: September 3, 2013

Label-free cell separation using a tunable magnetophoretic repulsion force.

Fengshan Shen¹, Hyundoo Hwang, Young Ki Hahn

¹Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.

Analytical Chemistry

|March 3, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study presents a novel label-free cell separation technique using magnetic forces in microchannels. By adjusting paramagnetic salt concentrations, researchers enhanced cell separation efficiency for biological and synthetic particles.

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Microfluidic Buffer Exchange for Interference-free Micro/Nanoparticle Cell Engineering

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Last Updated: May 24, 2026

Label-free Isolation and Enrichment of Cells Through Contactless Dielectrophoresis

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Microfluidic Buffer Exchange for Interference-free Micro/Nanoparticle Cell Engineering

Microfluidic Buffer Exchange for Interference-free Micro/Nanoparticle Cell Engineering

Published on: July 10, 2016

Area of Science:

Biotechnology
Microfluidics
Biomedical Engineering

Background:

Cell separation is crucial in diagnostics and research.
Existing methods often require cell labeling, which can be complex and costly.
Developing label-free techniques is a key goal in cell manipulation.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce a new label-free cell separation method using magnetic repulsion.
To demonstrate enhanced separation by manipulating magnetic susceptibility of the buffer solution.
To validate the method for separating cells and microparticles of different sizes.

Main Methods:

Utilized a microchannel system with a paramagnetic buffer solution.
Adjusted the magnetic susceptibility of the buffer using varying concentrations of gadolinium diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA).
Applied magnetic forces to separate U937 cells from red blood cells (RBCs) and polystyrene (PS) beads of different sizes.

Main Results:

Increased Gd-DTPA concentration enhanced magnetic force differences on cells.
Separation resolution for 8 and 10 μm PS beads improved from 0.08 to 0.91 with 40 mM Gd-DTPA.
Achieved >90% purity for label-free U937 cell and RBC separation with 1 × 10(5) cells/h throughput.

Conclusions:

The developed method offers an effective label-free approach for cell separation.
Gd-DTPA concentration is a critical parameter for optimizing separation performance.
This technique shows promise for various cell-based applications requiring high-purity separation.