Six-stage cascade paramagnetic mode magnetophoretic separation system for human blood samples.

This paper is focused on the development of a six-stage cascade paramagnetic mode magnetophoretic separation (PMMS) system for separating suspended cells in blood based on their native magnetic properties. The design and fabrication of a PMMS system are presented and the microfluidic separation system is characterized experimentally using human whole blood as the case study. The PMMS system can separate blood cells types continuously using the magnetophoretic force produced from a high magnetic field gradient without magnetic or fluorescent tagging. Experimental results demonstrated that red blood cell separation in the PMMS system at a volumetric flow rate of 28.8 microL/hr, resulting in a separation time of 10.4 min for a 5.0 microL blood sample with a separation efficiency of 89.5 +/- 0.20%. The PMMS system was tested at higher volumetric flow rates of 50.4 microL/hr and 72.0 microL/hr. The measured separation efficiencies were 86.2 +/- 1.60% and 59.9 +/- 6.06% respectively.