A microfluidic method for safe retrieval of bone marrow-derived cells

The method, dubbed MarrowCellDLD, was developed by researchers in the Laboratory of Life Sciences Electronics, led by Carlotta Guiducci, in the joint School of Engineering-School of Life Sciences Institute of Bioengineering. It was carried out in collaboration with the group of Olaia Naveiras at CHUV, and the University of Lausanne.

Much research has been done on hematopoietic progenitor cells, which are involved in blood cell production, but less is understood about bone marrow adipocytes and megakaryocytes due to their large size and susceptibility to rupture. MarrowCellDLD is a label-free cytometry microsystem that enables large bone marrow-derived cells to be isolated based on size without damaging them. It is based on a microfluidic architecture called deterministic lateral displacement (DLD), which consists of a flow-through microchamber with arrayed micropillars that physically displace large particles, enabling their separation.

In-vitro tests on mouse and human bone marrow showed MarrowCellDLD is even more effective at accurately sorting cells without damaging them than state-of-the-art fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) instruments, particularly for large cell sizes.

The authors believe that the method, which has recently been published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, should facilitate the separation of bone marrow adipocytes and megakaryocytes, allowing researchers to better understand their roles in human health and disease.