Inertio-elastic focusing of bioparticles in microchannels at high throughput
Author(s)
Lim, Eugene J.; Ober, Thomas Joseph; Edd, Jon F.; Desai, Salil P.; Neal, Douglas; Bong, Ki Wan; Doyle, Patrick S.; McKinley, Gareth H.; Toner, Mehmet; ... Show more Show less
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Controlled manipulation of particles from very large volumes of fluid at high throughput is critical for many biomedical, environmental and industrial applications. One promising approach is to use microfluidic technologies that rely on fluid inertia or elasticity to drive lateral migration of particles to stable equilibrium positions in a microchannel. Here, we report on a hydrodynamic approach that enables deterministic focusing of beads, mammalian cells and anisotropic hydrogel particles in a microchannel at extremely high flow rates. We show that on addition of micromolar concentrations of hyaluronic acid, the resulting fluid viscoelasticity can be used to control the focal position of particles at Reynolds numbers up to Re≈10,000 with corresponding flow rates and particle velocities up to 50 ml min[superscript −1] and 130 m s[superscript −1]. This study explores a previously unattained regime of inertio-elastic fluid flow and demonstrates bioparticle focusing at flow rates that are the highest yet achieved.
Date issued
2014-06Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical EngineeringJournal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Lim, Eugene J., Thomas J. Ober, Jon F. Edd, Salil P. Desai, Douglas Neal, Ki Wan Bong, Patrick S. Doyle, Gareth H. McKinley, and Mehmet Toner. “Inertio-Elastic Focusing of Bioparticles in Microchannels at High Throughput.” Nature Communications 5 (June 18, 2014).
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
2041-1723