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Microfluidic Buffer Exchange for Interference-free Micro/Nanoparticle Cell Engineering
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Inertial microfluidics for high-throughput cell analysis and detection: a review.
Zheng Zhou1, Yao Chen1, Shu Zhu1
1School of Mechanical Engineering, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Design and Manufacture of Micro-Nano Biomedical Instruments, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China. nan.xiang@seu.edu.cn.
The Analyst
|September 7, 2021
Summary
Inertial microfluidics offers high-throughput, cost-effective cell sample processing for analysis. This review details its applications in label-free cell phenotyping, flow cytometry, and imaging for advanced cell detection.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Microfluidics
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Inertial microfluidics, developed since 2007, leverages microfabrication for bioparticle manipulation.
- Its advantages include high throughput, simplicity, and low cost, making it ideal for large-volume, low-abundance samples.
- It serves as a crucial cell sample pretreatment method for downstream analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide a comprehensive review of inertial microfluidics applications in high-throughput cell analysis and detection.
- To categorize recent advances based on application areas.
- To summarize current challenges and future prospects.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on inertial microfluidics for cell analysis.
- Categorization of applications into label-free cell mechanical phenotyping, sheathless flow cytometric counting, electrical impedance cytometry, and high-throughput cellular image analysis.
- Analysis of technological advancements in microfabrication for inertial microfluidic devices.
Main Results:
- Inertial microfluidics enables efficient focusing, concentrating, separation, and capture of bioparticles and cells.
- Key applications include label-free cell mechanical phenotyping, sheathless flow cytometric counting, and electrical impedance cytometry.
- High-throughput cellular image analysis is enhanced through microfluidic sample preparation.
Conclusions:
- Inertial microfluidics is a powerful tool for rapid, cost-effective cell sample processing.
- It significantly advances high-throughput cell analysis and detection across various biomedical applications.
- Further research into challenges and prospects will drive future innovations in cell analysis technologies.
