High performance micro-flow cytometer based on optical fibres

Abstract

Flow cytometry is currently the gold standard for analysis of cells in the medical laboratory and biomedical research. Fuelled by the need of point-of-care diagnosis, a significant effort has been made to miniaturize and reduce cost of flow cytometers. However, despite recent advances, current microsystems remain less versatile and much slower than their large-scale counterparts. In this work, an all-silica fibre microflow cytometer is presented that measures fluorescence and scattering from particles and cells. It integrates cell transport in circular capillaries and light delivery by optical fibres. Single-stream cell focusing is performed by Elasto-inertial microfluidics to guarantee accurate and sensitive detection. The capability of this technique is extended to high flow rates (up to 800 µl/min), enabling a throughput of 2500 particles/s. The robust, portable and low-cost system described here could be the basis for a point-of-care flow cytometer with a performance comparable to commercial systems.

Lab-on-Chip for Exosomes and Microvesicles Detection and Characterization

“…It integrates circular capillaries for cell transport and optical fibres for light delivery. Single particle focusing is performed exploiting elasto-inertial microfluidics considering flow rates up to 800 µL/min and enabling detection of 2500 fluorescent particles per second [ 191 ].…”

Atmospheric Biodetection Part I: Study of Airborne Bacterial Concentrations from January 2018 to May 2020 at Saclay, France

“…The technique is widely used in medical and bacteriological laboratories to simultaneously analyze the size and granularity of biological cells like bacteria in water or more complicated mixtures (soils, lakes, seawater). The methodology is well described in the literature [ 58 , 59 ]. Briefly, this instrument is composed of a microfluidic part to separate the particles present in a liquid flow, then, to place them in a small detection chamber where they are excited by a laser beam.…”

Cell Cytometry: Review and Perspective on Biotechnological Advances

“…Figure 7C shows how all the optical components are on the same plane thereby allowing the microlens to focus laser light on a narrow region of sample flow channel while the detection fibers collect the scatter information. Another unique approach involving micro-chamber cytometer using an all-silica fiber for the transport of cells and collection of scattered and fluorescent laser inside the capillary housing was reported (Etcheverry et al, 2017). The system integrates transport of cells and detection of optical signal in the same micro-chamber making it an attractive point-of-care system (Figure 7D).…”