High-recovery sorting of cancer cells from whole blood periodic-focusing inertial microchip.

Inertial microfluidic devices continue to show promise for label-free separation of cells from liquid biopsies and other biological samples. Serpentine-channel microfluidic devices capitalizing on inertial forces such as Dean flow have been demonstrated for cell separation, but are limited in performance due to the magnitude of the inertial lift and drag force gradients across the separation channel. We have developed a new flow design that uses periodic channel contractions to enhance the magnitude of the force gradient.