Acoustofluidic Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter.
Selective isolation of cell subpopulations with defined biological characteristics is crucial for many biological studies and clinical applications. In this work, we present the development of an acoustofluidic fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) device that simultaneously performs on-demand, high-throughput, high-resolution cell detection and sorting, integrated onto a single chip. Our acoustofluidic FACS device uses the "microfluidic drifting" technique to precisely focus cells/particles three dimensionally and achieves a flow of single-file particles/cells as they pass through a laser interrogation region. We then utilize short bursts (150 μs) of standing surface acoustic waves (SSAW) triggered by an electronic feedback system to sort fluorescently labeled particles/cells with desired biological properties. We have demonstrated continuous isolation of fluorescently labeled HeLa cells from unlabeled cells at a throughput of ∼1200 events/s with a purity reaching 92.3 ± 3.39%. Furthermore, 99.18% postsort cell viability indicates that our acoustofluidic sorting technique maintains a high integrity of cells. Therefore, our integrated acoustofluidic FACS device is demonstrated to achieve two-way cell sorting with high purity, biocompatibility, and biosafety. We believe that our device has significant potential for use as a low-cost, high-performance, portable, and user-friendly FACS instrument.
Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.|School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (SMME), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) , Islamabad H-12, Pakistan.
Ahmad Ahsan
AA
Nawaz
Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
Yuchao
Y
Chen
Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
Nitesh
N
Nama
Microscopy and Cytometry Facility, The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
Ruth Helmus
RH
Nissly
Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
Liqiang
L
Ren
Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
Adem
A
Ozcelik
Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies Inc. , State College, Pennsylvania 16801, United States.
Lin
L
Wang
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), NIH , Bethesda, Maryland, United States.
J Philip
JP
McCoy
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), NIH , Bethesda, Maryland, United States.
Stewart J
SJ
Levine
Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
Tony Jun
TJ
Huang
D000162:Acoustics; D002470:Cell Survival; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results