Microfluidic bifurcation

Based on a similar principle, Yang et al. [9] have developed a microfluidic device for continuous, real-time blood plasma separation from whole blood. The device is composed of a blood inlet, a bifurcating region which leads to a purified plasma outlet, and a concentrated blood cell outlet. They have precisely designed flow rate ratios at each bifurcation so that no blood cells (erythrocytes, leukocytes, or platelets) flow into the side channels, while blood plasma is skimmed into the purified plasma collection channels. The experimentally determined plasma selectivity with respect to blood hematocrit level was almost 100 % regardless of the inlet hematocrit (Fig. 7a). The total plasma separation volume percent varied from 15 % to 25 % with increasing inlet hematocrit (Fig. 7b). 

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