8000 Chromatographic Cell Separation Using Dynamic Microstructures

Saturday, February 18, 2012
Exhibit Hall A-B1 (VCC West Building)
Will J. Beattie , University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Tom Gerhardt , University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Sangpil Woo , University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Hongshen Ma , University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
We present a microfluidic mechanism for imparting different flow rates to different cell types based on their physical properties to achieve chromatographic cell separation.  This mechanism is implemented in a microfluidic channel where a dy-namic structure that oscillates the channel height periodically, temporarily stopping the flow of large and rigid cells while al-lowing others to pass.  We verify the chromatographic behavior by tracking the speeds of red blood cells (RBCs), peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and L1210 mouse lymphoma cells (MLs).  Differences in average cell speed of greater than 50% between cell types have been achieved.