A microfluidic sensor for single cell detection in a continuous flow

Abstract

We present a microfluidic sensor for single cell detection based on Coulter counting technology and magnetic bead assay. This device can identify single cells in terms of the transit time difference of the cell through the two micro Coulter counters. Each single target cell can be differentiated from non-target cells even if they have similar sizes. Additionally, we demonstrated that HUVECs can be detected in situ from the cell mixture, and the corresponding HUVECs ratios can be accurately measured. With the simple device structure and easy sample preparation, this method could be applied to facilitate general cell detection applications.