Micro-fluidic device and uses thereof

A method of separating by size one or more particles from a mixture of particles suspended in a liquid media, comprising introducing the mixture into at least one inlet of a micro-fluidic device that can preferentially generate at least one strong Dean vortex along a flow stream for particle trapping, the micro-fluidic device comprising:

• i) at least one inlet;
• ii) a curvilinear microchannel having a cross section defined by a constant width along the microchannel, and a radially inner side, a radially outer side, a bottom side, and a top side, the cross section having the height of the radially inner side being smaller than the height of the radially outer side, resulting in the generation of at least one strong Dean vortex core, a channel depth of the radially outer side being between about 100 μm and about 140 μm, and a channel depth of the radially inner side being between about 70 μm and about 90 μm;
• the curvilinear microchannel being configured to trap at least one of a particle and a cell in the at least one strong Dean vortex along the radially outer side of the curvilinear microchannel;
• and
• iii) at least one outlet;
• the mixture being introduced into the at least one inlet of the micro-fluidic device at a flow rate that isolates particles along portions of the cross-section of the microchannel based on particle size, wherein larger particles flow along the radially inner side of the microchannel to a first outlet and smaller particles are trapped in at least one strong Dean vortex core near the radially outer side and flow to at least one other outlet, thereby size separating the particles from the mixture.

A method of mixing cells in a liquid, comprising introducing a liquid and cells into at least one inlet of a micro-fluidic device, the micro-fluidic device comprising:

• i) at least one inlet;
• ii) a curvilinear microchannel having a cross section defined by a constant width along the microchannel, and a radially inner side, a radially outer side, a bottom side, and a top side, the cross section having the radially inner side equal in height to the radially outer side, and wherein the top side has at least two continuous straight sections, each unequal in width to the bottom side, the top side including at least one shallow region, between the radially inner side and the radially outer side, that is shallower than both a channel depth of the radially inner side and a channel depth of the radially outer side;
• and
• iii) at least one outlet;
• the introducing the liquid and the cells into the at least one inlet of the micro-fluidic device being at a flow rate that mixes cells along the microchannel and directs the mixture to a first outlet and optionally collecting the mixture from the first outlet.

A micro-fluidic device for mixing cells in a liquid, the micro-fluidic device comprising:

• i) at least one inlet;
• ii) a curvilinear microchannel having a cross section defined by a constant width along the microchannel, and a radially inner side, a radially outer side, a bottom side, and a top side, the cross section having the radially inner side equal in height to the radially outer side, wherein the top side has at least two continuous straight sections, each unequal in width to the bottom side, and wherein the top side includes at least one shallow region, between the radially inner side and the radially outer side, that is shallower than both a channel depth of the radially inner side and a channel depth of the radially outer side;
• and
• iii) at least one outlet.