Acoustic actuated fluorescence activated sorting of microparticles.

Area of Science:

• Microfluidics
• Biotechnology
• Acoustic manipulation

Background:

• Continuous flow microfluidic systems offer advantages for cell sorting.
• Acoustic focusing provides precise particle manipulation in microfluidics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a fluorescence-activated cell sorter on a microfluidic chip.
• To enable high-throughput particle sorting based on fluorescence intensity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a microfluidic chip with two-dimensional acoustic pre-focusing.
• Employed short acoustic bursts for particle stream deflection.
• Sorted particles based on fluorescence intensity at high flow rates.

Main Results:

• Achieved particle sorting at flow rates up to 1.7 mL min(-1).
• Reached sorting throughputs of up to 150 particles s(-1).
• Obtained a maximum purity of 80% at 50 particles s(-1) with 93.2% recovery.

Conclusions:

• The developed system enables fluorescence-activated cell sorting in a continuous flow microfluidic format.
• Aseptic integration of downstream microfluidic functions is possible.
• The technology holds promise for medical and clinical applications.