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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 20, 2026

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

Microfluidic: an innovative tool for efficient cell sorting.

Julien Autebert¹, Benoit Coudert, François-Clément Bidard

¹Institut Curie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Unité Mixte de Recherche 168, 75005 Paris, France.

Methods (San Diego, Calif.)

|July 17, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Microfluidic systems offer advanced cell sorting for biological research and diagnostics. These systems leverage physical and biomolecular properties for precise cell analysis, particularly for circulating tumor cells.

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Microfluidics-based High-throughput Circulating Tumor Cell Sorting and Single-cell Sequencing Technology

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A Microfluidic Chip for the Versatile Chemical Analysis of Single Cells

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Published on: October 15, 2013

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Last Updated: May 20, 2026

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

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Published on: July 10, 2016

Microfluidics-based High-throughput Circulating Tumor Cell Sorting and Single-cell Sequencing Technology

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A Microfluidic Chip for the Versatile Chemical Analysis of Single Cells

A Microfluidic Chip for the Versatile Chemical Analysis of Single Cells

Published on: October 15, 2013

Area of Science:

Biotechnology
Cell Biology
Medical Diagnostics

Background:

Microfluidic systems initially focused on molecular analysis.
Applications rapidly expanded to cell biology, controlling cellular environments.
Recent advancements include novel microfluidic cell sorting concepts.

Purpose of the Study:

To provide an overview of microfluidic cell sorting techniques.
To emphasize applications in circulating tumor cell (CTC) isolation.
To discuss advantages, limitations, and future challenges.

Main Methods:

Classification of sorting principles into physical and biomolecular properties.
Physical properties include size, deformability, and optical/electrical characteristics.
Biomolecular properties focus on specific surface antigen interactions.

Main Results:

Microfluidics enables precise control over cellular environments for sorting.
Methods are categorized by physical or biomolecular cell properties.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a key application area.

Conclusions:

Microfluidics is poised to significantly impact cell biology and diagnostics.
Further development is needed in automation, standardization, and throughput.
Microfluidic cell sorting holds promise for research and point-of-care applications.