Micropatterned macroporous structures in microfluidic devices for viral separation from whole blood

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Separation and enrichment of bio-nanoparticles from complex biological samples like blood are essential for diagnostics and research.
• Existing methods often face challenges in efficiency and specificity when dealing with diverse particle sizes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and fabricate a microfluidic immunochromatographic device for effective capture of viruses from blood.
• To investigate the role of regular and multiscale monolithic structures in enhancing viral capture efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a microfluidic device with micropatterned arrays of macroporous materials.
• Integration of size-exclusion and affinity chromatography principles within a flow-through system.
• Computational fluid dynamics analysis to understand fluid permeation through porous matrices.
• Experimental validation using blood samples spiked with human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV).

Main Results:

• The microfluidic device effectively separates cells from viruses using size-exclusion and affinity chromatography.
• Multiscale monolithic structures demonstrated significantly improved viral capture efficiency compared to solid micropatterns.
• Fluid permeation and capture efficiency were found to be controllable by micropattern design and dimensions.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfluidic device offers a promising approach for the separation and concentration of bio-nanoparticles, including viruses, from complex biological mixtures.
• The incorporation of multiscale structures represents a key innovation for enhancing capture efficiency in microfluidic systems.
• This technology has broad potential applications in diagnostics, pathogen detection, and purification of biomolecules.