On-chip flow cytometer using integrated photonics for the detection of human leukocytes

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics
• Photonics

Background:

• Accurate differentiation of leukocyte subtypes (e.g., monocytes, lymphocytes) is critical for cell therapy and research.
• Current cell sorter throughput limits the cost-effective production of billions of cells required for therapies.
• Parallelization of commercial sorters increases costs and variability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a compact, high-throughput micro-flow cytometer with integrated fluidics and photonics.
• To demonstrate on-chip illumination and light collection for cell analysis.
• To achieve resolution sufficient for discriminating between lymphocyte and monocyte subtypes.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a micro-flow cytometer with monolithically integrated photonics and fluidics using CMOS-compatible wafer stacking.
• Utilizing photonic integrated circuits for cell illumination and scattered light collection.
• Integration of miniaturized photonic components and fluidics.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the first micro-flow cytometer with sufficient resolution to discriminate between lymphocytes and monocytes.
• Successfully integrated fluidics and photonics on-chip for cell analysis.
• Device is ready for fluorescence collection with on-chip excitation and external optics.

Conclusions:

• The developed micro-flow cytometer offers a compact, high-throughput solution for cell sorting.
• This integrated photonic and fluidic device advances cell therapy and research by enabling efficient cell subtype discrimination.
• Innovations in microfabrication pave the way for next-generation cell analysis platforms.