An artist's rendering of tumor cells flowing over an array of physical barriers. MARTIN RIETVELD/JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
The Device: Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a simple microfluidics chip to separate biological particles, like cells or proteins, by speed and location. Developed by graduate student Jorge Bernate with professor German Drazer, the strategy is a twist on chromatography, wherein separation of particles, like cells or peptides, occurs over time, with fast-moving particles being collected first and slow-moving particles being picked up later. Instead of relying on the single dimension of time, however, Bernate uses a strategy termed vector chromatography, which also uses space to separate biological entities.
The device relies a very simple and cheap force—gravity—to flow particles over an array of micron-sized bumps arranged “like rumble strips on a highway,” said David Inglis, who also researches microfluidics for biological applications ...
