A novel fabrication process of magnetic micropillar integrated microfluidic device for cells capture

Circulating tumour cells capture and counting on microfluidic device is a research focus during these years. In order to develop a magnetic cells capture chip with lower cost and better conveniency, We present a novel fabrication process of magnetic micropillar chip with Fe₃O₄ powder directly padded into master and encapsulated in PDMS replicate. The micropillars deliver strong magnetic gradient under the magnetic field from a small external magnet and magnetic beads were captured and released with instant reaction. SW620 colon cancer cells were used as a model and labelled with magnetic beads. The cells capture was then realized and the capture efficiency was desirable whereas the cost was significantly lower than the expense that conventional approach needed. The results demonstrated that the novel fabrication process is able to produce microfluidic chip with high magnetic performance under rather low manufacturing cost.