Soft inertial microfluidics for high throughput separation of bacteria from human blood cells
Abstract
We developed a new approach to separate bacteria from human blood cells based on soft inertial force induced migration with flow defined curved and focused sample flow inside a microfluidic device. This approach relies on a combination of an asymmetrical sheath flow and proper channel geometry to generate a soft inertial force on the sample fluid in the curved and focused sample flow segment to deflect larger particles away while the smaller ones are kept on or near the original flow streamline. The curved and focused sample flow and inertial effect were visualized and verified using a