scholarly journals A density-based threshold model for evaluating the separation of particles in heterogeneous mixtures with curvilinear microfluidic channels

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Kwan Chen ◽  
Bee Luan Khoo
Keyword(s):  
Particle Density ◽  
Threshold Model ◽  
Particle Separation ◽  
Microfluidic Channels ◽  
Label Free ◽  
Inertial Focusing ◽  
Irregular Shapes ◽  
Mathematical Expressions ◽  
Nonlinear Channels ◽  
Sorting Efficiency

Abstract Particle separation techniques play an important role in biomedical research. Inertial focusing based microfluidics using nonlinear channels is one of the promising label-free technologies for biological applications. The particle separation is achieved as a result of the combination of inertial lift force (FL) and Dean drag force (FD). Although the mathematical expressions of FL and FD have been well derived in prior studies, they are still complicated, which limits their popularity in practice. Recent studies modified these expressions through experiments and proposed a threshold model, which assumes that only particles larger than the threshold will be well focused. Although this threshold model has been used in recent studies, two varying versions of the threshold model (TM1 and TM2) prevents standardisation in practice. In addition, both models were developed with regular low-density particles and may not be applicable to samples with higher density or samples with irregular shapes. Here, we evaluated the threshold models with samples of different densities. Based on these evaluations, we derived a modified model (TM4), which additionally considers the factor of particle density to improve the accuracy of existing models. Our results demonstrated that TM4 could more reliably predict the sorting efficiency of samples within a wider density range.

Investigation of the Inertial Focusing Behavior in Curved Microfluidic Channels for Different Aspect Ratio

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Setayesh Hagh ◽  
Ali Dinler
Keyword(s):  
Particle Separation ◽  
Microfluidic Channels ◽  
Flow Conditions ◽  
Specific Flow ◽  
Inertial Focusing ◽  
Particle Focusing ◽  
Curved Channels ◽  
Aspect Ratios ◽  
Specific Number ◽  
Significant Attention

Inertial focusing has attracted a significant attention in microfluidics applications in recent years. Inertial focusing occurs only under specific flow conditions at which particles migrate across streamlines to a specific number of equilibrium positions. This behavior is mostly not sensitive to the particle size in straight channels. However, curved channels can allow sized based particle separation. In this study, curved channels with various aspect ratios have been investigated by numerical simulations. Consideration of flow regimes reveals that some conditions establish a high-quality single-particle focusing situation which is characterized by the alignment of particles within a narrow band. The outcomes of our numerical model contribute to the understanding of limitation of particle focusing and particle separation in curved microchannels.

Two step label free particle separation in a microfluidic system using elasto-inertial focusing and magnetophoresis

RSC Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (38) ◽  
pp. 32090-32097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Jung Kim ◽  
Doo Jin Lee ◽  
Jae Ryoun Youn ◽  
Young Seok Song
Keyword(s):  
Separation Efficiency ◽  
Free Particle ◽  
Particle Separation ◽  
Microfluidic System ◽  
Label Free ◽  
Inertial Focusing ◽  
High Separation

The high separation efficiency of particles and cells can be realized by exploiting a facile two step label free technique that consists of elasto-inertial focusing and magnetophoresis.

scholarly journals Differential Sorting of Microparticles Using Spiral Microchannels with Elliptic Configurations

Micromachines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 412
Author(s):  
Kaan Erdem ◽  
Vahid Ebrahimpour Ahmadi ◽  
Ali Kosar ◽  
Lütfullah Kuddusi
Keyword(s):  
Cell Sorting ◽  
Microfluidic Channel ◽  
Major Axis ◽  
Label Free ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Inertial Focusing ◽  
Size Dependent ◽  
Curved Channels ◽  
Aspect Ratios ◽  
Dependent Cell

Label-free, size-dependent cell-sorting applications based on inertial focusing phenomena have attracted much interest during the last decade. The separation capability heavily depends on the precision of microparticle focusing. In this study, five-loop spiral microchannels with a height of 90 µm and a width of 500 µm are introduced. Unlike their original spiral counterparts, these channels have elliptic configurations of varying initial aspect ratios, namely major axis to minor axis ratios of 3:2, 11:9, 9:11, and 2:3. Accordingly, the curvature of these configurations increases in a curvilinear manner through the channel. The effects of the alternating curvature and channel Reynolds number on the focusing of fluorescent microparticles with sizes of 10 and 20 µm in the prepared suspensions were investigated. At volumetric flow rates between 0.5 and 3.5 mL/min (allowing separation), each channel was tested to collect samples at the designated outlets. Then, these samples were analyzed by counting the particles. These curved channels were capable of separating 20 and 10 µm particles with total yields up to approximately 95% and 90%, respectively. The results exhibited that the level of enrichment and the focusing behavior of the proposed configurations are promising compared to the existing microfluidic channel configurations.

scholarly journals High-resolution particle separation by inertial focusing in high aspect ratio curved microfluidics

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Cruz ◽  
Klas Hjort
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
High Aspect Ratio ◽  
Biological Fluids ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
Particle Separation ◽  
Size Difference ◽  
Inertial Focusing ◽  
Complex Samples ◽  
Wide Range

AbstractThe ability to focus, separate and concentrate specific targets in a fluid is essential for the analysis of complex samples such as biological fluids, where a myriad of different particles may be present. Inertial focusing is a very promising technology for such tasks, and specially a recently presented variant, inertial focusing in High Aspect Ratio Curved systems (HARC systems), where the systems are easily engineered and focus the targets together in a stable position over a wide range of particle sizes and flow rates. However, although convenient for laser interrogation and concentration, by focusing all particles together, HARC systems lose an essential feature of inertial focusing: the possibility of particle separation by size. Within this work, we report that HARC systems not only do have the capacity to separate particles but can do so with extremely high resolution, which we demonstrate for particles with a size difference down to 80 nm. In addition to the concept for particle separation, a model considering the main flow, the secondary flow and a simplified expression for the lift force in HARC microchannels was developed and proven accurate for the prediction of the performance of the systems. The concept was also demonstrated experimentally with three different sub-micron particles (0.79, 0.92 and 1.0 µm in diameter) in silicon-glass microchannels, where the resolution in the separation could be modulated by the radius of the channel. With the capacity to focus sub-micron particles and to separate them with high resolution, we believe that inertial focusing in HARC systems is a technology with the potential to facilitate the analysis of complex fluid samples containing bioparticles like bacteria, viruses or eukaryotic organelles.

scholarly journals Self-Aligned Interdigitated Transducers for Acoustofluidics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhichao Ma ◽  
Adrian J. T. Teo ◽  
Say Hwa Tan ◽  
Ye Ai ◽  
Nam-Trung Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Wave ◽  
Surface Acoustic Wave ◽  
Particle Separation ◽  
Microfluidic Devices ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
Droplet Generation ◽  
Microfluidic Channels ◽  
Clean Room ◽  
Precise Location ◽  
Innovative Method

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) is effective for the manipulation of fluids and particles in microscale. The current approach of integrating interdigitated transducers (IDTs) for SAW generation into microfluidic channels involves complex and laborious microfabrication steps. These steps often require the full access to clean room facilities and hours to align the transducers to the precise location. This work presents an affordable and innovative method for fabricating SAW-based microfluidic devices without the need of clean room facilities and alignment. The IDTs and microfluidic channels are fabricated in the same process and thus precisely self-aligned in accordance with the device design. With the use of the developed fabrication approach, a few types of different SAW-based microfluidic devices have been fabricated and demonstrated for particle separation and active droplet generation.

Technology for Formation of Hybrid Microfluidic Biosensor Systems for Label-Free Fluorimetric Express Detection of Protein Structures based on Molecular Recognition

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 300-306
Author(s):  
N.O. Sitkov ◽  
◽  
T.M. Zimina ◽  
V.V. Luchinin ◽  
A.A. Kolobov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solid State ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Chemical Modification ◽  
Protein Structures ◽  
Microfluidic Channels ◽  
Label Free ◽  
Biomedical Analysis ◽  
Surface Deposition ◽  
Working Surface ◽  
Microfluidic Biosensor

The development and comparative study of technologies for manufacturing elements of hybrid biosensor systems intended for express biomedical analysis has been carried out. The technological process included the formation of the relief of microfluidic channels, chemical modification of their working surface, deposition of solid-state phosphor layers, sealing of the system, installation of inlet ports and packaging.

scholarly journals Addressing cellular heterogeneity in tumor and circulation for refined prognostication

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (36) ◽  
pp. 17957-17962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Bin Lim ◽  
Trifanny Yeo ◽  
Wen Di Lee ◽  
Ali Asgar S. Bhagat ◽  
Swee Jin Tan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Model ◽  
Expression Profiles ◽  
Metastatic Potential ◽  
Cellular Heterogeneity ◽  
Intratumor Heterogeneity ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
Label Free ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Inertial Focusing ◽  
Gene Signatures

Despite pronounced genomic and transcriptomic heterogeneity in non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) not only between tumors, but also within a tumor, validation of clinically relevant gene signatures for prognostication has relied upon single-tissue samples, including 2 commercially available multigene tests (MGTs). Here we report an unanticipated impact of intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) on risk prediction of recurrence in NSCLC, underscoring the need for a better genomic strategy to refine prognostication. By leveraging label-free, inertial-focusing microfluidic approaches in retrieving circulating tumor cells (CTCs) at single-cell resolution, we further identified specific gene signatures with distinct expression profiles in CTCs from patients with differing metastatic potential. Notably, a refined prognostic risk model that reconciles the level of ITH and CTC-derived gene expression data outperformed the initial classifier in predicting recurrence-free survival (RFS). We propose tailored approaches to providing reliable risk estimates while accounting for ITH-driven variance in NSCLC.

scholarly journals Microparticle Inertial Focusing in an Asymmetric Curved Microchannel

Fluids ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arzu Özbey ◽  
Mehrdad Karimzadehkhouei ◽  
Hossein Alijani ◽  
Ali Koşar
Keyword(s):  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Label Free ◽  
Promising Technique ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Inertial Focusing ◽  
Micro Total Analysis Systems ◽  
Symmetric Geometry ◽  
Total Analysis ◽  
Different Diameters

Inertial Microfluidics offer a high throughput, label-free, easy to design, and cost-effective solutions, and are a promising technique based on hydrodynamic forces (passive techniques) instead of external ones, which can be employed in the lab-on-a-chip and micro-total-analysis-systems for the focusing, manipulation, and separation of microparticles in chemical and biomedical applications. The current study focuses on the focusing behavior of the microparticles in an asymmetric curvilinear microchannel with curvature angle of 280°. For this purpose, the focusing behavior of the microparticles with three different diameters, representing cells with different sizes in the microchannel, was experimentally studied at flow rates from 400 to 2700 µL/min. In this regard, the width and position of the focusing band are carefully recorded for all of the particles in all of the flow rates. Moreover, the distance between the binary combinations of the microparticles is reported for each flow rate, along with the Reynolds number corresponding to the largest distances. Furthermore, the results of this study are compared with those of the microchannel with the same curvature angle but having a symmetric geometry. The microchannel proposed in this study can be used or further modified for cell separation applications.

scholarly journals Sorting of Particles Using Inertial Focusing and Laminar Vortex Technology: A Review

Micromachines ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalisa Volpe ◽  
Caterina Gaudiuso ◽  
Antonio Ancona
Keyword(s):  
Particle Sizes ◽  
Label Free ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Efficient Manner ◽  
Medical Treatments ◽  
Inertial Focusing ◽  
Physical Mechanisms ◽  
Micro Fluidics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Sample Separation

The capability of isolating and sorting specific types of cells is crucial in life science, particularly for the early diagnosis of lethal diseases and monitoring of medical treatments. Among all the micro-fluidics techniques for cell sorting, inertial focusing combined with the laminar vortex technology is a powerful method to isolate cells from flowing samples in an efficient manner. This label-free method does not require any external force to be applied, and allows high throughput and continuous sample separation, thus offering a high filtration efficiency over a wide range of particle sizes. Although rather recent, this technology and its applications are rapidly growing, thanks to the development of new chip designs, the employment of new materials and microfabrication technologies. In this review, a comprehensive overview is provided on the most relevant works which employ inertial focusing and laminar vortex technology to sort particles. After briefly summarizing the other cells sorting techniques, highlighting their limitations, the physical mechanisms involved in particle trapping and sorting are described. Then, the materials and microfabrication methods used to implement this technology on miniaturized devices are illustrated. The most relevant evolution steps in the chips design are discussed, and their performances critically analyzed to suggest future developments of this technology.

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