Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Molecular Mechanisms of Dissolved Organic Matter in Controlling Cr(III) Colloidal Deposition and Reversibility.

Environmental science & technology·2026
Same author

Who is more likely to receive up-to-date lung cancer screening? Identifying key barriers using principal component analysis and SHAP modeling: a weighted cross-sectional analysis of the 2024 BRFSS.

Frontiers in public health·2026
Same author

Ambitious Co-scaling of Carbon Dioxide Removal and Decarbonization Delivers Better Climate Outcomes Than Strategies That Prioritize Efforts in One Domain.

Environmental science & technology·2026
Same author

Structural Factors of Preschoolers' Creative Personality and Their Impact on Creative Thinking Based on the Componential Model of Creativity.

Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same author

Resistance Training Complements Anti-TNF Therapy in DSS-Induced Colitis by Improving Skeletal Muscle Inflammatory and Mitochondrial Gene Signatures.

Current issues in molecular biology·2026
Same author

AI-Based Pathology classifier Predicts Sensitivity to Enzalutamide in Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer: A Biomarker Analysis of the ENZAMET Trial.

Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Microfluidics-based High-throughput Circulating Tumor Cell Sorting and Single-cell Sequencing Technology
09:45

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

Published on: November 14, 2025

895

Continuous Flow Deformability-Based Separation of Circulating Tumor Cells Using Microfluidic Ratchets.

Emily S Park1, Chao Jin1, Quan Guo1

  • 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2054-6250 Applied Science Lane, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada.

Small (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)
|February 27, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

A new label-free method isolates rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood using their unique deformability. This technique significantly improves CTC capture yield for advanced cancer diagnostics and molecular analysis.

Keywords:
cell deformabilitycell separationcirculating tumor cellsmicrofluidic ratchetsprostate cancer

More Related Videos

Clinical Microfluidic Chip Platform for the Isolation of Versatile Circulating Tumor Cells
05:58

Clinical Microfluidic Chip Platform for the Isolation of Versatile Circulating Tumor Cells

Published on: October 13, 2023

1.8K
Separating Beads and Cells in Multi-channel Microfluidic Devices Using Dielectrophoresis and Laminar Flow
09:45

Separating Beads and Cells in Multi-channel Microfluidic Devices Using Dielectrophoresis and Laminar Flow

Published on: February 4, 2011

28.2K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Microfluidics-based High-throughput Circulating Tumor Cell Sorting and Single-cell Sequencing Technology
09:45

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

Published on: November 14, 2025

895
Clinical Microfluidic Chip Platform for the Isolation of Versatile Circulating Tumor Cells
05:58

Clinical Microfluidic Chip Platform for the Isolation of Versatile Circulating Tumor Cells

Published on: October 13, 2023

1.8K
Separating Beads and Cells in Multi-channel Microfluidic Devices Using Dielectrophoresis and Laminar Flow
09:45

Separating Beads and Cells in Multi-channel Microfluidic Devices Using Dielectrophoresis and Laminar Flow

Published on: February 4, 2011

28.2K

Area of Science:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Oncology
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are crucial biomarkers for cancer detection and characterization.
  • The extreme rarity of CTCs in blood presents a significant challenge for their isolation and analysis.
  • Existing methods often require cell labeling or struggle with low enrichment efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a novel, label-free method for enriching viable CTCs from whole blood.
  • To leverage differences in cell deformability for CTC separation.
  • To enable downstream molecular characterization of captured CTCs.

Main Methods:

  • A microfluidic device utilizing tapered micrometer-scale constrictions and oscillatory flow.
  • Separation based on cell deformability, causing distinct flow paths for CTCs, leukocytes, and erythrocytes.
  • Label-free enrichment of viable CTCs directly from unprocessed whole blood.

Main Results:

  • Achieved >90% capture of cancer cells in doping experiments with 10^4-fold enrichment relative to leukocytes.
  • Demonstrated label-free separation of CTCs from whole blood based on deformability, even with similar cell sizes.
  • Captured CTCs with 25x greater yield compared to the CellSearch system in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Conclusions:

  • The developed microfluidic method effectively enriches viable CTCs from whole blood based on deformability.
  • This label-free approach offers a significant improvement in CTC capture yield and enables downstream molecular analysis.
  • The technology holds promise for enhanced cancer detection, monitoring, and personalized treatment strategies.