Abstract

Label-Free Particle Sorting - Innovative Ways to Fractionate Cells Based on their Innate Properties

Jonas Tegenfeldt, Associate Professor, Lund University

Miniaturization of fluidic networks lends itself nicely to manipulation and characterization of cells and small particles. Cell sorting is a central capability in biology and medicine. Standard techniques typically rely on external molecular markers to select the cells of interest that add complexity to the assay and that may perturb the cells. Relying on the basic physical properties of the particles combined with clever design of the microfluidic channels we are developing devices that sort particles not only based on size but also on shape[1], deformability[1], density[2] and dielectric properties[3]. The sorting is entirely passive and requires no monitoring. This can be used e.g. to extract rare pathogens from blood[4] for diagnosis or to divide a bacterial sample into subpopulations for subsequent analysis. 1. Beech, J.P., S.H. Holm, K. Adolfsson, and J.O. Tegenfeldt, Sorting cells by size, shape and deformability. Lab on a Chip, 2012. 12(6): p. 1048-1051. 2. Holm, S., J.P. Beech, and J.O. Tegenfeldt, Combined Density and Size-Based Sorting in Deterministic Lateral Displacement Devices, in microTAS2013. 2013, Society for Chemistry and Micro-Nano Systems: Freiburg, Germany. 3. Beech, J.P., P. Jonsson, and J.O. Tegenfeldt, Tipping the balance of deterministic lateral displacement devices using dielectrophoresis. Lab on a Chip, 2009. 9(18): p. 2698-2706. 4. Holm, S.H., J.P. Beech, M.P. Barrett, and J.O. Tegenfeldt, Simplifying microfluidic separation devices towards field-detection of blood parasites. Analytical Methods, 2016. 8: p. 3291-3300.