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Overview Of Cell Separation And Isolation

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Cell separation was first achieved in 1964 by S. H. Seal, who separated large tumor cells from the smaller blood cells using filtration. Two years later, Pohl and Hawk performed experiments on how cells respond differently to a nonuniform electric field based on the cell type. Such observations were the inception of cell separation methods, which allow isolating a single cell type from a heterogeneous sample.

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Updated: Jul 26, 2025

A Microfluidic Technique to Probe Cell Deformability

A Microfluidic Technique to Probe Cell Deformability

Published on: September 3, 2014

Multistage microfluidic cell sorting method and chip based on size and stiffness.

Gaolin Li¹, Yuan Ji², Yihui Wu²

¹Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

Biosensors & Bioelectronics

|June 16, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study introduces a novel multistage microfluidic chip for high-purity sorting of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood. The method combines size-based and stiffness-based sorting for efficient and label-free CTC isolation and analysis.

Keywords:

Cell sorting Cone channel chip Deterministic lateral displacement Microfluidic chip

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A Microfluidic Technique to Probe Cell Deformability

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

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Published on: February 4, 2011

Area of Science:

Biomedical Engineering
Microfluidics
Cancer Diagnostics

Background:

High-performance sorting of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is crucial for liquid biopsies.
Conventional size-based methods like deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) struggle with low specificity when cell size differences are minimal.
CTCs exhibit lower stiffness than leukocytes, offering an alternative sorting parameter.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a multistage microfluidic system for label-free, high-purity, and high-throughput sorting and analysis of CTCs.
To improve CTC sorting specificity by integrating size-based and stiffness-based separation techniques.
To enhance fluid regulation in DLD sorting using optimized microcolumn design.

Main Methods:

A two-array DLD chip with droplet-shaped microcolumns (DMCs) was designed for initial size-based CTC sorting.
A stiffness-based cone channel chip was developed to purify CTCs from contaminating leukocytes.
Raman spectroscopy was employed for label-free cell type identification.
Four DMC DLD chips were paralleled for high-throughput sample processing.

Main Results:

The optimized DLD chip achieved a sample processing rate of 2.5 mL/min with 96.30 ± 2.10% recovery and 98.25 ± 2.48% purity.
The cone channel chip improved CTC purity by 1.8-fold by entrapping leukocytes based on stiffness differences.
The integrated system provided efficient, label-free CTC isolation and analysis.

Conclusions:

The developed multistage microfluidic system offers a highly efficient and specific method for CTC isolation and analysis.
Optimized DLD chips with DMCs significantly enhance fluid regulation and sorting performance.
Combining size and stiffness-based sorting provides a robust approach for challenging CTC separation scenarios.