title: Separation of blood cells with differing deformability using deterministic lateral displacement(†).
abstract: Determining cell mechanical properties is increasingly recognized as a marker-free way to characterize and separate biological cells. This emerging realization has led to the development of a plethora of appropriate measurement techniques. Here, we use a fairly novel approach, deterministic lateral displacement (DLD), to separate blood cells based on their mechanical phenotype with high throughput. Human red blood cells were treated chemically to alter their membrane deformability and the effect of this alteration on the hydrodynamic behaviour of the cells in a DLD device was investigated. Cells of defined stiffness (glutaraldehyde cross-linked erythrocytes) were used to test the performance of the DLD device across a range of cell stiffness and applied shear rates. Optical stretching was used as an independent method for quantifying the variation in stiffness of the cells. Lateral displacement of cells flowing within the device, and their subsequent exit position from the device were shown to correlate with cell stiffness. Data showing how the isolation of leucocytes from whole blood varies with applied shear rate are also presented. The ability to sort leucocyte sub-populations (T-lymphocytes and neutrophils), based on a combination of cell size and deformability, demonstrates the potential for using DLD devices to perform continuous fractionation and/or enrichment of leucocyte sub-populations from whole blood.
authors.affiliation: London Centre for Nanotechnology , University College London , 17-19 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AH , UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg , Henkestrasse 91, 91052 Erlangen , Germany ; Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics , University of Cambridge , JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE , UK.
authors.forename: Graeme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Whyte
authors.affiliation: London Centre for Nanotechnology , University College London , 17-19 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AH , UK ; Centre for Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology , University College London , Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT , UK.
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.affiliation: London Centre for Nanotechnology , University College London , 17-19 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AH , UK ; Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing , University College London , Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT , UK.
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vergara-Irigaray
authors.affiliation: Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics , University of Cambridge , JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE , UK ; Biotechnology Center , TechnischeUniversität Dresden , Tatzberg 47/49, 01307 Dresden , Germany.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ekpenyong
authors.affiliation: Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics , University of Cambridge , JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE , UK ; Biotechnology Center , TechnischeUniversität Dresden , Tatzberg 47/49, 01307 Dresden , Germany.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guck
authors.affiliation: London Centre for Nanotechnology , University College London , 17-19 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AH , UK.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Duke
keywords: blood separation; cell deformability; deterministic lateral displacement; digital holography; microfluidics; optical stretching