6-Stage Cascade Mode Magnetophoretic Microseparator for Human Blood Cells

This paper is focused on the development of a 6-stage cascade paramagnetic mode magnetophoretic separation (PMMS) system. The design and fabrication of a 6-stage cascade mode magnetophoretic microseparator are presented along with the experimental characterization of the separation system using human whole blood as the case study. In this example, the PMMS system is used to separate blood cells from human whole blood based on their native magnetic properties using the magnetic force produced from a high magnetic field gradient. The most significant advancement of the PMMS system over our previously reported microseparators is the ability to obtain similar blood cell separation efficiencies while significantly increasing the volumetric flow rate through the separator. Experimental results show a separation efficiency of 89.5±0.20 % for red blood cells at a volumetric flow rate of 28.8 μL/hr, resulting in a separation time of 10.4 minutes for a 5.0 μL blood sample.