Fully-automated and field-deployable blood leukocyte separation platform using multi-dimensional double spiral (MDDS) inertial microfluidics

Lab Chip. 2020 Sep 29;20(19):3612-3624. doi: 10.1039/d0lc00675k.

Abstract

A fully-automated and portable leukocyte separation platform was developed based on a new type of inertial microfluidic device, multi-dimensional double spiral (MDDS) device, as an alternative to centrifugation. By combining key innovations in inertial microfluidic device designs and check-valve-based recirculation processes, highly purified and concentrated WBCs (up to >99.99% RBC removal, ∼80% WBC recovery, >85% WBC purity, and ∼12-fold concentrated WBCs compared to the input sample) were achieved in less than 5 minutes, with high reliability and repeatability (coefficient of variation, CV < 5%). Using this, one can harvest up to 0.4 million of intact WBCs from 50 μL of human peripheral blood (50 μL), without any cell damage or phenotypic changes in a fully-automated operation. Alternatively, hand-powered operation is demonstrated with comparable separation efficiency and speed, which eliminates the need for electricity altogether for truly field-friendly sample preparation. The proposed platform is therefore highly deployable for various point-of-care applications, including bedside assessment of the host immune response and blood sample processing in resource-limited environments.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Separation
  • Humans
  • Lab-On-A-Chip Devices
  • Leukocytes*
  • Microfluidics*
  • Reproducibility of Results