Label-free microfluidic cell sorting and detection for rapid blood analysis

• Main Authors: Lu, Nan, Tay, Hui Min, Petchakup, Chayakorn, He, Linwei, Gong, Lingyan, Maw, Kay Khine, Leong, Sheng Yuan, Lok, Wan Wei, Ong, Hong Boon, Guo, Ruya, Li, Holden King Ho, Hou, Han Wei
• Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Science::Medicine; Blood Analysis; Label Free
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/166213
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Blood tests are considered as standard clinical procedures to screen for markers of diseases and health conditions. However, the complex cellular background (>99.9% RBCs) and biomolecular composition often pose significant technical challenges for accurate blood analysis. An emerging approach for point-of-care blood diagnostics is utilizing "label-free" microfluidic technologies that rely on intrinsic cell properties for blood fractionation and disease detection without any antibody binding. A growing body of clinical evidence has also reported that cellular dysfunction and their biophysical phenotypes are complementary to standard hematoanalyzer analysis (complete blood count) and can provide a more comprehensive health profiling. In this review, we will summarize recent advances in microfluidic label-free separation of different blood cell components including circulating tumor cells, leukocytes, platelets and nanoscale extracellular vesicles. Label-free single cell analysis of intrinsic cell morphology, spectrochemical properties, dielectric parameters and biophysical characteristics as novel blood-based biomarkers will also be presented. Next, we will highlight research efforts that combine label-free microfluidics with machine learning approaches to enhance detection sensitivity and specificity in clinical studies, as well as innovative microfluidic solutions which are capable of fully integrated and label-free blood cell sorting and analysis. Lastly, we will envisage the current challenges and future outlook of label-free microfluidics platforms for high throughput multi-dimensional blood cell analysis to identify non-traditional circulating biomarkers for clinical diagnostics.