Microfluidic device designed to cleanse blood
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A diagram illustrating how the device diverts bacteria from the red blood cells
The experimental microfluidic device, which could find use in the cleansing of infected blood
Article Summary
In a natural phenomenon known as margination, platelets and leukocytes (white blood cells) within the bloodstream move towards the sides of blood vessels and adhere to them. It occurs at wound sites, during the early stages of inflammation. Recently, a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the National University of Singapore have put that process to work in a microfluidic device that could be used to cleanse the blood, perhaps acting as a treatment for bacteria-related blood disorders such as sepsis.
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