Microfluidic technologies for cell deformability cytometry

Microfluidic detection methods for cell deformability cytometry have been regarded as powerful tools for single-cell analysis of cellular mechanical phenotypes, thus having been widely applied in the fields of cell preparation, separation, clinical diagnostics and so on. Featured with traits like easy operations, low cost and high throughput, such methods have shown great potentials on investigating physiological state and pathological changes during cellular deformation. Herein, a review on the advancements of microfluidic-based cell deformation cytometry is presented. We discuss several representative microfluidic-based cell deformability cytometry methods with their frontiers in practical applications. Finally, we analyze the current status and propose the remaining challenges with future perspectives and development directions.