Inertial Microfluidics Enabling Clinical Research

Srivathsan Kalyan; Corinna Torabi; Harrison Khoo; Hyun Woo Sung; Sung-Eun Choi; Wenzhao Wang; Benjamin Treutler; Dohyun Kim; Soojung Claire Hur

doi:10.3390/mi12030257

Micromachines (Mar 2021)

Inertial Microfluidics Enabling Clinical Research

Srivathsan Kalyan,
Corinna Torabi,
Harrison Khoo,
Hyun Woo Sung,
Sung-Eun Choi,
Wenzhao Wang,
Benjamin Treutler,
Dohyun Kim,
Soojung Claire Hur

Affiliations

Srivathsan Kalyan: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Corinna Torabi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Harrison Khoo: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Hyun Woo Sung: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Sung-Eun Choi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Wenzhao Wang: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Benjamin Treutler: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Dohyun Kim: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Myongji University, Yongin-si 17508, Korea
Soojung Claire Hur: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12030257
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 12, no. 3
p. 257

Abstract

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Fast and accurate interrogation of complex samples containing diseased cells or pathogens is important to make informed decisions on clinical and public health issues. Inertial microfluidics has been increasingly employed for such investigations to isolate target bioparticles from liquid samples with size and/or deformability-based manipulation. This phenomenon is especially useful for the clinic, owing to its rapid, label-free nature of target enrichment that enables further downstream assays. Inertial microfluidics leverages the principle of inertial focusing, which relies on the balance of inertial and viscous forces on particles to align them into size-dependent laminar streamlines. Several distinct microfluidic channel geometries (e.g., straight, curved, spiral, contraction-expansion array) have been optimized to achieve inertial focusing for a variety of purposes, including particle purification and enrichment, solution exchange, and particle alignment for on-chip assays. In this review, we will discuss how inertial microfluidics technology has contributed to improving accuracy of various assays to provide clinically relevant information. This comprehensive review expands upon studies examining both endogenous and exogenous targets from real-world samples, highlights notable hybrid devices with dual functions, and comments on the evolving outlook of the field.

Published in Micromachines

ISSN: 2072-666X (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Technology: Mechanical engineering and machinery
Website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/micromachines

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