A centrifugal microfluidic cross-flow filtration platform to separate serum from whole blood for the detection of amphiphilic biomarkers

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 5287
• Main Authors: Lenz, Kiersten D., Jakhar, Shailja, Chen, Jing W., Anderson, Aaron S., Purcell, Dylan C., Ishak, Mohammad O., Harris, Jennifer F., Akhadov, Leyla E., Kubicek-Sutherland, Jessica Z., Nath, Pulak, Mukundan, Harshini
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05.03.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/1647; 631/45; 639/166; 692/308; 692/53; Animals; Automation; BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Biochemistry; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - blood; Blood; Blood Cell Count; Cell Separation - methods; Filtration; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrophobicity; Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; Laboratories; Lasers; Lipids; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - instrumentation; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - methods; Microfluidics; Molecular biology; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Serum; Sheep - blood; Surface-Active Agents - analysis
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-84353-z

The separation of biomarkers from blood is straightforward in most molecular biology laboratories. However, separation in resource-limited settings, allowing for the successful removal of biomarkers for diagnostic applications, is not always possible. The situation is further complicated by the need to separate hydrophobic signatures such as lipids from blood. Herein, we present a microfluidic device capable of centrifugal separation of serum from blood at the point of need with a system that is compatible with biomarkers that are both hydrophilic and hydrophobic. The cross-flow filtration device separates serum from blood as efficiently as traditional methods and retains amphiphilic biomarkers in serum for detection.