Sheathless Separation of Cyanobacterial Anabaena by Shape Using Viscoelastic Microfluidics

Classifying algae according to shape

1 March 2022

An easy way to segregate blue–green algae based on their shapes using a microfluidic chip has been devised.

Blue–green algae play a key role in aquatic ecosystems. They are also of interest for producing compounds that may have therapeutic benefit. To gain a better understanding of factors affecting their growth, it is desirable to sort them based on their size.

Now, a team that included researchers at Deakin University in Australia has designed a microfluidic chip that can sort the rod-shaped blue–green alga Anabaena based on the length-to-width ratio.

While microfluidics based on viscoelasticity has been used previously to sort organisms smaller than 100 micrometres according to the shape, the present study has demonstrated that the technique can be extended to larger cell sizes, the researchers note.

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References

1. Analytical Chemistry 93, 12648−12654 (2021). doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c02389