High-throughput particle separation and concentration using spiral inertial filtration

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics
• Cell Separation Technology

Background:

• High-throughput and high-purity particle separation are critical in biomedical applications.
• Existing microfluidic techniques often face challenges in concentrating particles without disrupting streams.
• Inertial microfluidics offers a promising approach for label-free cell manipulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report a novel spiral inertial filtration (SIFT) device for particle separation and concentration.
• To demonstrate the SIFT device's capability for high-throughput and high-purity separation.
• To validate an equivalent circuit model for calculating SIFT microsystem channel geometries.

Main Methods:

• Development and utilization of a spiral inertial filtration (SIFT) microfluidic device.
• Balancing inertial lift forces and Dean drag forces for particle focusing.
• Application of an experimentally validated equivalent circuit model for channel geometry calculation.
• Incremental removal of sample fluid while maintaining average fluid velocity or Dean number.

Main Results:

• The SIFT device achieved high-throughput (1 ml/min) particle separation with high purity.
• Concentration factors exceeding an order of magnitude were obtained for target particles.
• Separation of MCF7 cells from whole blood with nearly 100% recovery, removing 93% of sample volume.
• Achieved a 14-fold concentration enhancement for MCF7 cancer cells.

Conclusions:

• The SIFT device offers efficient particle separation and significant sample volume reduction.
• This technology enables substantial concentration of target particles, improving detection sensitivity.
• The SIFT device shows great potential for applications in cancer cell detection and diagnostics.