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Immunological Analyses of Whole Blood via “Microfluidic Drifting” Based Flow Cytometric Chip

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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.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Joseph Rufo and Adem Ozcelik for helpful discussions. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award (1DP2OD007209-01), National Science Foundation, and the Penn State Center for Nanoscale Science (MRSEC) under grant DMR-0820404. Components of this work were conducted at the Penn State node of the NSF-funded National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Ahmad Ahsan Nawaz, Peng Li, Yuchao Chen, Feng Guo, Arooj Nawaz Qureshi & Tony Jun Huang

  2. Microscopy and Cytometry Facility, The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Ruth Helmus Nissly

  3. Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Graduate Program, The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Sixing Li

  4. Mechanical Engineering Department, Taibah University, Madina, Saudi Arabia

    Yasir M. Shariff

  5. Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies Inc., State College, PA, USA

    Lin Wang

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  1. Ahmad Ahsan Nawaz
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  9. Lin Wang
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Correspondence to Tony Jun Huang.

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Associate Editor Tingrui Pan oversaw the review of this article.

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Nawaz, A.A., Nissly, R.H., Li, P. et al. Immunological Analyses of Whole Blood via “Microfluidic Drifting” Based Flow Cytometric Chip. Ann Biomed Eng 42, 2303–2313 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-014-1041-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-014-1041-5

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