Optofluidic device for label-free cell classification from whole blood

Area of Science:

• Optofluidics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Cellular Analysis

Background:

• Accurate neutrophil enumeration is crucial for monitoring immune function, especially in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
• Traditional methods for cell counting are often time-consuming, require large sample volumes, and involve complex laboratory procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a novel optofluidic lab-on-a-chip device for label-free cell classification and enumeration.
• To enable rapid and accurate quantification of neutrophil concentration in small blood volumes.

Main Methods:

• Development of an optofluidic device utilizing a spatial mask to modulate light intensity for cell detection.
• Measurement of cell position, velocity, size, and stiffness via optically encoded forward scattering signals.
• Utilizing differences in size and stiffness to distinguish neutrophils from other blood cells.

Main Results:

• The device achieved submicrometer resolution in measuring cell parameters, enabling cell distribution plotting.
• Neutrophil concentration was accurately enumerated from a mere 5 μL of human blood.
• The system successfully identified and counted neutrophils without the need for anticoagulation, centrifugation, or antibody labeling.

Conclusions:

• The developed optofluidic system offers a compact, inexpensive, and simple solution for neutrophil enumeration.
• This technology holds significant promise for point-of-care and home-care applications, particularly for monitoring cancer patients.
• Label-free optical coding provides an efficient method for cell classification based on physical properties.