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Microfluidic Buffer Exchange for Interference-free Micro/Nanoparticle Cell Engineering
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Electricity-free hand-held inertial microfluidic sorter for size-based cell sorting.

Nan Xiang1, Zhonghua Ni1

  • 1School of Mechanical Engineering, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Design and Manufacture of Micro-Nano Biomedical Instruments, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China.

Talanta
|September 14, 2021
PubMed
Summary

We developed an electricity-free, hand-held inertial microfluidic cell sorter for efficient, passive cell separation. This low-cost device offers portability and ease of use, ideal for resource-limited settings.

Keywords:
Cell separationElectricity-freeHand-heldInertial microfluidicsLow-resource setting

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Area of Science:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Microfluidics
  • Cell Sorting Technology

Background:

  • Conventional cell sorters are often bulky, expensive, and require electricity.
  • Existing microfluidic sorters frequently need field generators and power-intensive pumping systems.
  • There is a critical need for low-cost, portable cell sorting solutions for resource-limited environments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop an electricity-free, hand-held inertial microfluidic cell sorter.
  • To enable high-efficiency, continuous, and passive sorting of cells based on size.
  • To create a portable and low-cost cell sorting device suitable for low-resource settings.

Main Methods:

  • Designed a wheel-shaped, all-in-one syringe inertial microfluidic sorter (i-sorter) with integrated flow stabilizers.
  • Utilized two spring-driven mechanical syringe drivers for passive flow generation.
  • Employed flow-rate-sensitive inertial cell separation principles for size-based sorting.

Main Results:

  • Successfully sorted particles of different sizes using the fabricated prototype.
  • Achieved high-efficiency separation of rare tumor cells from blood samples.
  • Demonstrated the effectiveness of passive flow stabilizers with unstable driving flow rates.

Conclusions:

  • The developed hand-held inertial microfluidic cell sorter is low-cost, compact, and operates without electricity.
  • The device offers simple operation and portability, making it suitable for low-resource settings.
  • The cell sorter does not require pre-labelled samples, enhancing its practical utility.