title: Immunological analyses of whole blood via "microfluidic drifting" based flow cytometric chip.
abstract: Cost-effective, high-performance diagnostic instruments are vital to providing the society with accessible, affordable, and high-quality healthcare. Here we present an integrated, "microfluidic drifting" based flow cytometry chip as a potential inexpensive, fast, and reliable diagnostic tool. It is capable of analyzing human blood for cell counting and diagnosis of diseases. Our device achieves a throughput of ~3754 events/s. Calibration with Flow-Check calibration beads indicated good congruency with a commercially available benchtop flow cytometer. Moreover, subjection to a stringent 8-peak rainbow calibration particle test demonstrated its ability to perform high-resolution immunological studies with separation resolution of 4.28 between the two dimmest fluorescent populations. Counting accuracy at different polystyrene bead concentrations showed strong correlation (r=0.9991) with hemocytometer results. Finally, reliable quantification of CD4+ cells in healthy human blood via staining with monoclonal antibodies was demonstrated. These results demonstrate the potential of our microfluidic flow cytometry chip as an inexpensive yet high-performance point-of-care device for mobile medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Ahmad Ahsan
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Nawaz
authors.forename: Ruth Helmus
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Nissly
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yuchao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Sixing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yasir M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Shariff
authors.forename: Arooj Nawaz
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tony Jun
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D004867:Equipment Design; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems