Abstract
Current macro- and microfluidic approaches for the isolation of mammalian cells are limited in both efficiency and purity. In order to design a robust platform for the enumeration of a target cell population, high collection efficiencies are required. Additionally, the ability to isolate pure populations with minimal biological perturbation and efficient off-chip recovery will enable subcellular analyses of these cells for applications in personalized medicine. Here, a rational design approach for a simple and efficient device that isolates target cell populations via magnetic tagging is presented. In this work, two magnetophoretic microfluidic device designs are described, with optimized dimensions and operating conditions determined from a force balance equation that considers two dominant and opposing driving forces exerted on a magnetic-particle-tagged cell, namely, magnetic and viscous drag. Quantitative design criteria for an electromagnetic field displacement-based approach are presented, wherein target cells labeled with commercial magnetic microparticles flowing in a central sample stream are shifted laterally into a collection stream. Furthermore, the final device design is constrained to fit on standard rectangular glass coverslip (60 (L)×24 (W)×0.15 (H) mm3) to accommodate small sample volume and point-of-care design considerations. The anticipated performance of the device is examined via a parametric analysis of several key variables within the model. It is observed that minimal currents (<500 >mA) are required to generate magnetic fields sufficient to separate cells from the sample streams flowing at rate as high as 7 ml/h, comparable to the performance of current state-of-the-art magnet-activated cell sorting systems currently used in clinical settings. Experimental validation of the presented model illustrates that a device designed according to the derived rational optimization can effectively isolate ( ∼ 100%) a magnetic-particle-tagged cell population from a homogeneous suspension even in a low abundance. Overall, this design analysis provides a rational basis to select the operating conditions, including chamber and wire geometry, flow rates, and applied currents, for a magnetic-microfluidic cell separation device.
Keywords
mammalian cells, magnetophoresis
Subject Categories
Microfluidic devices, Cell separation, Electromagnetic fields
Disciplines
Biological and Chemical Physics | Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
Publisher
American Institute of Physics
Publication Date
3-30-2011
Rights Information
Copyright 2011
Rights Holder
American Institute of Physics
Recommended Citation
Plouffe, Brian Dennis; Lewis, Laura H.; and Murthy, Shashi Krishna, "Computational design optimization for microfluidic magnetophoresis" (2011). Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications. Paper 13.
Erratum
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Additional Files
erratum.pdf (358 kB)Erratum
Included in
Biological and Chemical Physics Commons, Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons
Notes
Originally published in Biomicrofluidics v.5 (2011): 013413. DOI: 10.1063/1.3553239.