In this project, a microfluidic platform has been developed that allows, from a blood sample from a patient, to separate tumor cells from other cells such as red and white blood cells and platelets. One of the most important aspects of this platform is that after separation, the tumor cells have to remain alive. The ultimate goal is to use these cells to personalize cancer treatments to the particular characteristics of each patient. This separation is carried out in two consecutive stages: the first by cell size and the second by dielectric property of the cell. Size separation discards all those cells less than 9 microns in diameter, so that only tumor cells and white blood cells remain in the useful sample. Dielectrophoresis separation separates the tumor cells from the white blood cells still present.

Project financed by the Government of Navarra through the 2018 call for grants to Technology Centers and Research Organizations for carrying out collaborative R&D projects.