Abstract

Passive and Active Sorting and Manipulation of Soft Objects in Microflow

Thomas Franke, Professor, University Of Glasgow

The use of acoustics in microfluidics has become very popular for the past few years because it provides a versatile tool to manipulate small amounts of fluid on a chip in a highly controlled manner. Mixing, pumping, focusing and deflection has been successfully demonstrated and already included in commercial available products. However, in many cases simple passive techniques that just exploit a particular flow field and its interaction with soft objects such as red blood cells are sufficient to achieve controlled sorting. In this presentation we give an overview of existing microfluidics techniques for sorting and manipulation of biological cells and drops used in our lab with special focus on acoustical microfluidics and non-inertial lift force techniques. In particular we show triggered sorting and separation of circulating tumor cells and red blood cells at high speed in microfluidic channels based on laser interrogation similar to FACS.