Table 2.
Applications of inertial focusing
| Application area | Application | Channel style | Sample | ReC | De | a/Dh | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheathless alignment | Flow cytometry | Straight | Dilute blood (1–5% v/v) | ~7 | NA | 0.45 | 92 |
| Curved/spiral | Neuroblastoma cells (0.05% v/v) | ~100 | ~12 | 0.08 | 93 | ||
| Asymmetric curves and straight | Particles (≤ 0.1% v/v) and dilute blood (<0.2% v/v) | ~110 | ~60 | 0.15 | 52, 95 | ||
| Separation/fractionation | Rare cell isolation | Straight | Neuroblastoma cells spiked in blood (≤1% v/v) | ~130 | NA | 0.17 | 100 |
| Breast cancer cells spiked in blood (≤10% v/v) | ~38 | NA | 0.13 | 101 | |||
| Curved/spiral | Cancer cells spiked in blood then RBC lysis (<2% v/v) | ~141 | <15 | 0.08 | 63 | ||
| Cancer cells spiked in blood (<2% v/v) | ~60 | ~6 | 0.18 | 102 | |||
| Cancer cells spiked in blood (<2% v/v) | ~76 | ~13 | 0.06 | 103 | |||
| Asymmetric curves | Cancer cells in isolated leukocytes (<0.4% v/v) | ~50 | <25 | 0.20 | 96 | ||
| Expansion/contraction | Cancer cells (0.05% v/v) | ~240 | NA | 0.26 | 66, 69 | ||
| Cancer cells spiked in blood (<2% v/v) | ~100 | NA | 0.60 | 104 | |||
| Cancer cells spiked in blood (≤20% v/v) | ~312 | NA | 0.19 | 105 | |||
| Cell separation by size | Curved/spiral | Neuroblastoma and glioma cells (<1% v/v) | ~200 | ~12 | 0.08 | 58 | |
| Dilute blood (<2% v/v) | ~46 | ~4 | 0.07 | 61 | |||
| Dilute blood (<1% v/v) | ~150 | <30 | 0.06 | 106 | |||
| Cell cycle synchronization | Straight | Saccharomyces cerevisiae (<1% v/v) | ~40 | NA | 0.14 | 75 | |
| Curved/spiral | Human mesenchymal stem cells (<0.1% v/v) | ~200 | <20 | 0.07 | 107 | ||
| Platelet separation | Asymmetric curves | Dilute blood (<1% v/v) | ~112 | <43 | 0.11 | 36 | |
| Bacteria isolation/filtration | Straight | Escherichia coli spiked in dilute blood (<1% v/v) | ~125 | NA | 0.33 | 97 | |
| Plasma extraction | Expansion/contraction | Dilute blood (<3% v/v) | ~100 | NA | 0.27 | 99 | |
| Curved/spiral | Dilute blood (<0.5% v/v) | ~150 | <30 | 0.06 | 106 | ||
| Separation by deformability | Straight | Cancer cells (0.05% v/v) | ~21 | NA | 0.27 | 76 | |
| Fluid exchange and mixing | Cell staining platform | Expansion/contraction | Cancer cells spiked in blood (<1% v/v) | ~183 | NA | 0.26 | 69 |
| Cancer cells (0.05% v/v) | ~200 | NA | 0.31 | 116 | |||
| Solution exchange | Straight | RBC lysed blood (<0.05% v/v) | ~50 | NA | 0.23 | 110 | |
| Expansion/contraction | Cancer cells spiked in blood (<1% v/v) | ~183 | NA | 0.26 | 69 | ||
| Fluid mixing | Straight | Dilute blood (1–5% v/v) | <60 | NA | 0.17 | 80 | |
| Volume reduction | Concentrating bioparticles | Curved/spiral | S. cerevisiae (<1% v/v) | ~50 | <12 | 0.05 | 56 |
| Water filtration | Curved/spiral | Particles | ~20 | <2 | 0.07 | 54 | |
| Particle classification | Curved/spiral | Particles | <600 | <40 | 0.05 | 72 | |
| Particles | <462 | <30 | 0.12 | 73 | |||
| Enabled technologies | Deformability measurements | Straight | Cancer cells (0.05% v/v) | ~21 | NA | 0.27 | 76 |
| Asymmetric curves | Cancer cells, stem cells, and leukocytes (<0.1% v/v) | ~75 | <30 | 0.24 | 108, 112 | ||
| Single cell encapsulation | Straight | Leukemic cells (HL60) | ~8 | NA | 0.34 | 50, 115 | |
| Curved/spiral | Leukemic cells (HL60 and K652) | ~8 | <1 | 0.33 | 114 | ||
| Electroporation and DNA delivery | Curved/spiral | Chinese hamster ovary cells (<0.05% v/v) | ~68 | <19 | 0.31 | 65 | |
| Expansion/contraction | Cancer cells (0.05% v/v) | ~200 | NA | 0.31 | 116 |
Abbreviations: a, particle diameter; De, Dean number (strength of the curvature-generated secondary flows); Dh, hydraulic diameter of a channel [Dh = 2hw/(h + w), where h and w are the height and width, respectively, of the microchannel]; NA, not applicable; ReC, channel Reynolds number.