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The capability to sort, that is, to separate and isolate particular molecules, viruses, bacteria and mammalian cells, from a large background of complex mixtures, at very high throughput, purity and efficiency is a key biotechnological capability. Such bioseparation technologies have very broad applications ranging from molecular diagnositics to transplant therapies. Currently, widely used methods for cell sorting include fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS). Unfortunately, neither of the technologies are well suited for ultrahigh performance cell sorting in a portable and disposable platform. The goal of our research area is to develop electrokinetic and magnetophoretic separation systems that that operate in a massively parallel manner such that unprecedented levels of throughput, purity, and rare cell recovery can be achieved simultaneously.
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