Inertial microfluidics for circulating tumor cell separation and detection

This report demonstrates a passive double spiral microfluidic device allowing rapid and label-free tumor cell separation by inertial microfluidics. Results from separating tumor cells spiked into whole blood indicate a separation efficiency over 90% at the throughput of 3.33×107 cells/min. The separated tumor cells are trapped and enriched on an integrated polycarbonate filter located on top of the outlet of microchannels. Nucleic acids from MCF-7 cells are detected by loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP).