A Microchip for Continuous-flow Mag- Netic-activated Incubation and Separa- Tion of Microparticles

ABSTRACT This paper presents a novel microfluidic chip that exploits magnetic manipulation for integrated incubation and separation of microparticles in continuous flow. The chip integrates an active-mixing enhanced incubator and a magnetic fractionation-based separator. In the incubator, surface-functionalized magnetic beads capture target particles through specific binding, which is enhanced by magnetic active mixing. Subsequently in the separator, the captured target particles are separated and retrieved in the same magnetic field. In contrast to current devices that are limited by manual off-chip incubation or complicated fabrication processes, our device offers automated and continuous operation with a simple structure design.