Micro vapor bubble jet flow for safe and high-rate fluorescence-activated cell sorting

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Clinical cell sorting is crucial for diagnostics and therapeutics.
• Commercial fluorescence-activated cell sorters (FACS) are costly and risk aerosol contamination.
• There is a need for safe, high-rate, and cost-effective cell isolation methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a microfluidic cell sorter for high-rate, enclosed, and contamination-free cell sorting.
• To demonstrate the efficacy of a vapor bubble-actuated cell sorting mechanism.
• To enable affordable and safe clinical cell isolation, including rare cancer cell enrichment.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a microfluidic chip with an array of micro heating hotspots.
• Utilizing pulsed resistive heating to generate short-duration micro vapor bubbles.
• Employing the rapid jet flow from vapor bubble collapse for precise cell sorting.

Main Results:

• Achieved high cell sorting rates comparable to commercial FACS.
• Demonstrated significant enrichment of rare cancer cells.
• Validated a fully enclosed system, minimizing aerosol contamination risks.

Conclusions:

• Vapor bubble-based microfluidic cell sorting offers a safe, high-rate, and cost-effective solution for clinical applications.
• This technology is suitable for contamination-free isolation of circulating tumor cells and other rare cell types.
• The developed sorter presents a powerful tool for advancing cancer cell therapy and diagnostics.