High-speed MEMS-enabled cell sorting

The first Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorters (FACS) were developed over 40 years ago.  These machines, now extremely sophisticated, are all based on sorting of an aerosolized stream of particles passing between electrostatically charged plates.  While ideal for many research purposes, they have a number of limitations that make them difficult to employ for a growing number of emerging clinical applications.  For instance, they do not have fully closed, easily sterilized, and disposable fluidic pathways, resulting in risks to both patient and operator.  And, while capable of sorting more than 30,000 events per second, they are relatively slow when considered in light of the large sample volumes required for many emerging clinical applications.  IMT has developed a novel cell sorting device that uses a micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) silicon microfluidic chip to separate a particular targeted cell population from a biological sample.  This results in a system that is based on a sterilized, fully disposable, closed fluidic path.  Furthermore, the system is capable of speeds greatly in excess of current sorters.  These characteristics make the technology ideal for clinical applications.