Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 8, 2025
09:51
A Microfluidic Platform for High-throughput Single-cell Isolation and Culture
Published on: June 16, 2016
11.4K
Hybrid Microfluidic Device for High Throughput Isolation of Cells Using Aptamer Functionalized Diatom Frustules
Rashin Mohammadi1,2, Mohammad Asghari1, Monika Colombo1
1Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Vladimir Prelog Weg 1, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
Chimia
|December 10, 2023
Summary
This study presents a novel microfluidic device for isolating circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood. The automated system achieves high recovery and purity, aiding cancer research and diagnostics.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Oncology
- Microfluidics
Background:
- Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are crucial for cancer metastasis research and diagnostics.
- Isolating rare CTCs from blood is challenging due to low titers and interference from other blood components.
Purpose of the Study:
- To design, fabricate, and optimize an automated microfluidic device for efficient CTC isolation from whole blood.
- To enable better understanding of cancer metastasis through improved CTC analysis.
Main Methods:
- Utilized passive viscoelastic separation to isolate CTCs and white blood cells (WBCs) from red blood cells (RBCs).
- Employed active magnetophoretic separation for subsequent isolation of CTCs from WBCs.
- Developed magnetic biosilica frustules for fluorescent tagging and magnetic isolation of CTCs.
Main Results:
- Achieved exceptional CTC recovery rate of 94.6%.
- Demonstrated high CTC purity of 89.7% using the developed microfluidic platform.
- Optimized device geometry and magnetophoretic separation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
Conclusions:
- The developed microfluidic device offers an efficient and automated method for CTC isolation.
- This technology has significant potential for advancing cancer diagnostics and metastasis research.
- The combination of viscoelastic and magnetophoretic separation provides a robust platform for rare cell isolation.
