Tangential Flow Microfiltration for Viral Separation and Concentration

Abstract

Microfluidic devices that allow biological particle separation and concentration have found wide applications in medical diagnosis. Here we present a viral separation polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) device that combines tangential flow microfiltration and affinity capture to enrich HIV virus in a single flow-through fashion. The set-up contains a filtration device and a tandem resistance channel. The filtration device consists of two parallel flow channels separated by a polycarbonate nanoporous membrane. The resistance channel, with dimensions design-guided by COMSOL simulation, controls flow permeation through the membrane in the filtration device. A flow-dependent viral capture efficiency is observed, which likely reflects the interplay of several processes, including specific binding of target virus, physical deposition of non-specific particles, and membrane cleaning by shear flow. At the optimal flow rate, nearly 100% of viral particles in the permeate are captured on the membrane with various input viral concentrations. With its easy operation and consistent performance, this microfluidic device provides a potential solution for HIV sample preparation in resource-limited settings.

Micro and Nanoscale Technologies for Diagnosis of Viral Infections

“…Reproduced under the terms of the CC‐BY Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. [ 80 ] Copyright 2019, MDPI Open Access Journals.…”

“…In another example, Wang et al used tangential flow microfiltration on the chip to separate/concentrate the HIV (Figure 5). [80] The top tandem resistance and bottom permeate channels were separated with a NeutrAvidin functionalized polycarbonate (PC) nanoporous filter (pore size ≈50 nm). As shown in Figure 5c, when the top resistance channel enhances filtration, the fluid partially enters the top channel and then moves tangentially toward the filter.…”

“…Reproduced under the terms of the CC-BY Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. [80] Copyright 2019, MDPI Open Access Journals. and separating them from other lysed molecules, such as proteins or carbohydrates.…”

Editorial for the Special Issue on “Micro- and Nanofluidics for Bionanoparticle Analysis”

“…Eight papers are published in this special issue and cover the design of microfluidics for bioseparation [1,2,3,4,5,6], incorporation of sensors with microfluidics for particle detection [6,7], and modular devices with both functions [1,6,7]. Nanomaterials have been combined with microfluidics for both separation [5] and sensing [7] purposes. The special issue also includes a review on programmable paper-based microfluidics [8].…”

“…The collection of papers describe a wide spectrum of separation and sensing mechanisms. For example, Wang et al [5] incorporated nanoporous membranes into microfluidic channels, and demonstrated the separation and enrichment of virus from biological fluids through nanofiltration. Yang et al [6] took advantage of particle inertia in curved microfluidic channels to separate and contain particles in micro-tanks, which were further resolved by optical diffraction.…”