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High-speed counting and sizing of cells in an impedance flow microcytometer with compact electronic instrumentation

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Abstract

Here we describe a high-throughput impedance flow cytometer on a chip. This device was built using compact and inexpensive electronic instrumentation. The system was used to count and size a mixed cell sample containing red blood cells and white blood cells. It demonstrated a counting capacity of up to ~500 counts/s and was validated through a synchronised high-speed optical detection system. In addition, the device showed excellent discrimination performance under high-throughput conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the ISCIII through the FIS project PI071162 and the Science Support Program of the Fundación Botín. R.R-T acknowledges funding from EU FP6 Marie Curie program CELLCHECK (035854-1). We kindly acknowledge Drs. Alfred Cortés and Francesc Miro from the Gene Translation laboratory of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) for their help and for providing the cell populations used in these experiments. The authors also thank Mohammad Ajine for MATLAB software development and Miquel Garrido for implementation of the electronic system. The lab-on-a-chip was fabricated in the Nanotechnology Platform of the Institute for Bioengeneering of Catalonia (IBEC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanobioengineering Group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Baldiri Reixac 10-12, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Oscar Castillo-Fernandez & Josep Samitier

  2. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), C/María de Luna 11, Edificio CEEI, 50018, Zaragoza, Spain

    Oscar Castillo-Fernandez & Josep Samitier

  3. Department of Electronics, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Oscar Castillo-Fernandez, Gabriel Gomila & Josep Samitier

  4. Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, DTU Nanotech, Technical University of Denmark, Building 345E, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

    Romen Rodriguez-Trujillo

  5. Nanobioelectricity Group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Baldiri Reixac 10-12, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Gabriel Gomila

Authors
  1. Oscar Castillo-Fernandez
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  2. Romen Rodriguez-Trujillo
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  3. Gabriel Gomila
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  4. Josep Samitier
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oscar Castillo-Fernandez.

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Castillo-Fernandez, O., Rodriguez-Trujillo, R., Gomila, G. et al. High-speed counting and sizing of cells in an impedance flow microcytometer with compact electronic instrumentation. Microfluid Nanofluid 16, 91–99 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-013-1225-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-013-1225-6

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