“Application of Inertial Microfluidics for Isolation and Removal of Round Spermatids from a Spermatogenic Cell Sample to Assist In-Vitro Human Spermatogenesis” authored by Sabin Nepal, Joey Casalini, Alex Jafek, and Bruce Gale was recently published in Micromachines.
The article outlines the used of inertial microfluidics for isolating round spermatids from other germ cells and purifying spermatogenic cells as a way of improving in-vitro spermatogenesis to address male infertility. A custom PDMS microfluidic spiral channel for performing separation is designed, fabricated, and tested. The custom device does not experience clogging issues, a problem encountered in a commercially available spiral device. Additionally, the fabricated device achieves 86% purity in a single pass, an improvement over the 38% seen with STA-PUT – a method based on velocity sedimentation commonly used in this application. Validation results of the fabricated device are shown in the figure with the full article being found at https://doi.org/10.3390/mi16050500.