Time-of-flight magnetic flow cytometry in whole blood with integrated sample preparation.

Rapid and specific rare cell detection for point-of-care testing requires an integration of the sample preparation for flow cytometry. To achieve such a challenging goal we have developed a magnetic flow cytometry technique which applies magnetophoresis to perform cell enrichment, focusing, and background elimination in a single step. Time-of-flight measurements are performed with integrated magnetic sensors to detect specifically cancer cells and cell diameters in whole blood.