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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 29, 2026

Evidence for EpCAM and Cytokeratin Expressing Epithelial Cells in Normal Human and Murine Blood and Bone Marrow

Evidence for EpCAM and Cytokeratin Expressing Epithelial Cells in Normal Human and Murine Blood and Bone Marrow

Published on: April 21, 2023

Magnetically Sculpted Microfluidics for Continuous-Flow Fractionation of Cell Populations by EpCAM Expression Level.

Zhenwei Liang¹, Xiaolei Guo^1,2, Xuanhe Zhang¹

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.

|January 28, 2026

Summary

This study introduces a microfluidic platform using soft magnetic strips for continuous cell separation based on surface marker levels. It enables quantitative, label-guided cell fractionation with high recovery and viability for downstream applications.

Keywords:

EpCAM expression level continuous-flow fractionation magnetically sculpted microfluidics microfluidic cell sorting

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A Multilayer Microfluidic Platform for the Conduction of Prolonged Cell-Free Gene Expression

A Multilayer Microfluidic Platform for the Conduction of Prolonged Cell-Free Gene Expression

Published on: October 6, 2019

Area of Science:

Biomedical Engineering
Microfluidics
Cell Separation Technology

Background:

Continuous-flow separation of magnetically labeled cells is crucial for studying cell heterogeneity and supporting assays.
Existing methods require precise control over magnetic fields and cell labeling for effective fractionation.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a microfluidic platform for quantitative, continuous-flow cell separation based on surface marker expression levels.
To establish a magnetic-field design strategy for expression-level-dependent cell fractionation using soft magnetic elements.

Main Methods:

Utilized spatially engineered soft magnetic strips (SMS) to create lateral magnetic deflection fields in a microchannel.
Employed a COMSOL-MATLAB framework and a force-equivalent metric to optimize SMS structural parameters.
Implemented a three-stage cascade with multi-outlet collection for cell partitioning into discrete expression-level subgroups.

Main Results:

Successfully partitioned MDA-MB-231, Caco-2, and A549 cells into four EpCAM-related magnetic subgroups (high, medium, low, near-negative).
Achieved high cell recovery (>90%) and maintained cell viability (98.2 ± 1.3%).
Demonstrated that sorted fractions align with known literature expression trends.

Conclusions:

The developed microfluidic platform enables quantitative, continuous-flow cell fractionation based on surface marker expression.
The magnetic-field design strategy using SMS is effective for next-generation magneto-fluidic separation systems.
The system is compatible with downstream applications, including whole-blood assays and cell culture.