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Label‐Free and Continuous‐Flow Ferrohydrodynamic Separation of HeLa Cells and Blood Cells in Biocompatible Ferrofluids
Author(s) -
Zhao Wujun,
Zhu Taotao,
Cheng Rui,
Liu Yufei,
He Jian,
Qiu Hong,
Wang Lianchun,
Nagy Tamas,
Querec Troy D.,
Unger Elizabeth R.,
Mao Leidong
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201503838
Subject(s) - hela , biocompatible material , materials science , microfluidics , circulating tumor cell , cell culture , biomedical engineering , cell , separation method , nanotechnology , biophysics , chromatography , cancer , biology , medicine , chemistry , biochemistry , genetics , metastasis
In this study, a label‐free, low‐cost, and fast ferrohydrodynamic cell separation scheme is demonstrated using HeLa cells (an epithelial cell line) and red blood cells. The separation is based on cell size difference, and conducted in a custom‐made biocompatible ferrofluid that retains the viability of cells during and after the assay for downstream analysis. The scheme offers moderate‐throughput (≈10 6 cells h −1 for a single channel device) and extremely high recovery rate (>99%) without the use of any label. It is envisioned that this separation scheme will have clinical applications in settings where rapid cell enrichment and removal of contaminating blood will improve efficiency of screening and diagnosis such as cervical cancer screening based on mixed populations in exfoliated samples.