MICROFLUIDIC APPROACHES FOR DISEASED CELL SEPARATION FROM BLOOD

Abstract

Of the ~5 billion cells per milliliter of blood, red blood cells (RBCs) account for >99% of all cellular components suspended in protein-rich plasma. Besides blood constituents, pathogenic microorganisms or cells are also present in peripheral blood in different diseases, which are of clinical significance and important for fundamental research. In this thesis, we present two novel cell separation techniques (cell margination and inertial microfluidics) based on physical for blood-related diseases including sepsis, malaria and cancer (presence of CTCs in blood). Cell margination was applied for sepsis and malaria disease which are characterized by the presence of either smaller (bacteria) or stiffer (iRBCs) diseased cell components. Inertial microfluidics was used for CTCs isolation from blood due to large size differences between CTCs and blood cell components. Good separation performances were achieved and our approaches also offer distinct advantages such as whole blood processing, high-throughput separation and minimal clogging issues.