Cellular separations: a review of new challenges in analytical chemistry

The ability to generate a sample of cells of a given phenotype is a prerequisite for many cellular assays. In response to this growing need, numerous methods for cell separation have been developed in recent years. This Review covers recent progress in the field of cell separations and cell chromatography. Cell separation principles—such as size and affinity capture—are discussed, as well as conventional methods such as fluorescence-activated cell sorting and magnetic sorting. Planar flow cell arrays, dielectrophoresis, field-flow methods, and column separation devices are reviewed, as well as applications of these methods to medicine and biotechnology. Cell attachment and adhesion strategies and a comparison of techniques are also presented.