Low‐cost multi‐core inertial microfluidic centrifuge for high‐throughput cell concentration

Abstract

We developed a low-cost multi-core inertial microfluidic centrifuge (IM-centrifuge) to achieve a continuous-flow cell/particle concentration at a throughput of up to 20 mL/min. To lower the cost of our IM-centrifuge, we clamped a disposable multilayer film-based inertial microfluidic (MFIM) chip with two reusable plastic housings. The key MFIM chip was fabricated in low-cost materials by stacking different polymer-film channel layers and double-sided tape. To increase processing throughput, multiplexing spiral inertial microfluidic channels were integrated within an all-in-one MFIM chip, and a novel sample distribution strategy was employed to equally distribute the sample into each channel layer. Then, we characterized the focusing performance in the MFIM chip over a wide flow-rate range. The experimental results showed that our IM-centrifuge was able to focus various-sized particles/cells to achieve volume reduction. The sample distribution strategy also effectively ensured identical focusing and concentration performances in different cores. Finally, our IM-centrifuge was successfully applied to concentrate microalgae cells with irregular shapes and highly polydisperse sizes. Thus, our IM-centrifuge holds the potential to be employed as a low-cost, high-throughput centrifuge for disposable use in low-resource settings.

Inertial microfluidics: current status, challenges, and future opportunities

“…19 However, this outcome is still not high enough for processing large-volume samples, such as pleural effusions 103 or bioreaction fluids 102 that can go up to volumes of hundreds of milliliters and hundreds of liters, respectively. To further increase the processing throughput, multiplexing integration of identical inertial microfluidic units (parallel arranged, 21,30 radially arrayed, 101,104 and vertically stacked 102,[105][106][107] ) is commonly adopted (Fig. 2(b)).…”

“…Thin polymer-film chips can represent an attractive option for multiplexing integration as it can make full use of the vertical space. 101,106,107 In addition, the uniform distribution of flow across all branches in a highly integrated device is critical for ensuring the identical performance of each unit, since the performance of inertial microfluidics is highly flowrate sensitive.…”

Universal Control for Micromotor Swarms with a Hybrid Sonoelectrode

“…The proposed aggregation of SM models based on the sonoelectrode offers a novel way to directly concentrate microrobots in the working region, without the exquisite structures for conventional microfluidic chips. [46][47][48][49][50] Moreover, the intensified fluorescence signal by aggregation provides a potential detection for multiple biomarkers with low allowance. [51] To collect same 10 µm SMs, aqueous ionic solutions (e.g., phosphate buffered saline solution (PBS, pH 7.4) and gastric fluid (pH 1.4)) could suppress the van der Waals interactions between particles and the substrate to slightly enhance the particle movements during collection (see Figure 5f).…”

Zigzag microchannel for rigid inertial separation and enrichment (Z-RISE) of cells and particles

“…Furthermore, inertial microfluidics has been widely used owing to the ease of operation, robustness, high throughput, and high efficiency. [4][5][6] Inertial microfluidics is a passive microfluidic technique relying on intrinsic hydrodynamic forces that can readily be utilized for rapid particle and cell separation. [7][8][9] This phenomenon was first observed by Segre & Silberberg through a simple circular millimeter channel in 1961.…”