Abstract
The identification of biomarkers from blood plasma is at the heart of many diagnostic tests. These tests often need to be conducted frequently and quickly, but the logistics of sample collection and processing not only delays the test result, but also puts a strain on the healthcare system due to the sheer volume of tests that need to be performed. The advent of microfluidics has made the processing of samples quick and reliable, with little or no skill required on the user’s part. However, while several microfluidic devices have been demonstrated for plasma separation, none of them have validated the chemical integrity of the sample post-process. Here, we present Haemoprocessor: a portable, robust, open-fluidic system that utilizes Travelling Surface Acoustic Waves (TSAW) with the expression of overtones to separate plasma from 20× diluted human blood within a span of 2 min to achieve 98% RBC removal. The plasma and red blood cell separation quality/integrity was validated through Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and multivariate analyses to ascertain device performance and reproducibility when compared to centrifugation (the prevailing gold-standard for plasma separation). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed a remarkable separation of 92.21% between RBCs and plasma components obtained through both centrifugation and Haemoprocessor methods. Moreover, a close association between plasma isolates acquired by both approaches in PCA validated the potential of the proposed system as an eminent cell enrichment and plasma separation platform. Thus, compared to contemporary acoustic devices, this system combines the ease of operation, low sample requirement of an open system, the versatility of a SAW device using harmonics, and portability.
Highlights
The IDTs were placed in such a manner that only half of the wavefront was exposed to the process chamber
This resulted in the formation of only a single vortex at the edge of the fluid, which, in turn reduced the number of aggregation points of the particles to one
We have presented a portable, open-microfluidic, plasma-separation platform, which comprised a multi-frequency travelling surface acoustic waves (TSAW) chip with an actuation device that allowed for the generation of RF signals from 100 MHz to 700 MHz with adjustable power
Summary
SAW was used for open droplet-based sorting as well but given the manual loading of the devices, the consistent placement between loadings results in different process outcomes, thereby compromising repeatability To overcome these limitations, we developed Haemoprocessor; a portable, battery/linepower operated, label-free plasma separation system (Figure 1A), which uses travelling surface acoustic waves (TSAW) to process 3 μL of blood in under 2 min with 98% collection efficiency. We developed Haemoprocessor; a portable, battery/linepower operated, label-free plasma separation system (Figure 1A), which uses travelling surface acoustic waves (TSAW) to process 3 μL of blood in under 2 min with 98% collection efficiency It uses an open microfluidic system for ease of sample loading and collection.
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