Patent ID: 11925934
Assignee: GEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 17:
18. A method comprising:
providing a cell medium comprising cells to a microfluidic device comprising a microfluidic channel, an expansion region, and a plurality of hydrodynamically balanced outlets;
wherein the microfluidic channel comprises ridges and a wall, each of the ridges extending towards the wall and defining a compression gap between the ridge and the wall;
wherein each adjacent pair of the ridges is separated by a ridge spacing selected based on variations of viscoelasticity of the cells; and
wherein the expansion region is disposed downstream from the ridges;

passing the cell medium through at least a portion of the microfluidic channel;
wherein the ridges affect an ability of the cells to pass through the compression gaps based on the viscoelasticity of the cells;
wherein the ridges cause separation of the cells into a plurality of sorted portions based on the viscoelasticity of the cells;

flowing the cell medium from the microfluidic channel to the expansion region in which the cells are not affected by the ridges, thereby hydrodynamic balancing a flow of the cell medium after the cell medium exits the microfluidic channel;
collecting a respective one of the plurality of sorted portions of the cells into a respective one of the plurality of hydrodynamically balanced outlets.