Stela Korre presented successfully her Master’s Thesis entitled “Microfluidic devices for the separation and characterization of blood biomarkers”, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Postgraduate Program “Microsystems & Nanodevices” (NTUA).

ABSTRACT

This thesis presents the development of two microfluidic devices aimed at the separation and characterization of emerging biomarkers in human blood, specifically red blood cells (RBCs) and small extracellular vesicles (sEVs).

The first device emulates a capillary vascular network, enabling the measurement of the transit time of individual RBCs as they pass through microchannels with diameters slightly smaller than their own. These measurements provide valuable insights into RBC deformability and allow for potential correlations between transit time and underlying conditions such as sickle cell disease and thalassemia. The second device focuses on the isolation of particles with a diameter of approximately 100 nm to mimic sEVs. Its operating principle relies on size-dependent separation of particles in viscoelastic media. Both devices were fabricated using optical lithography and soft lithography techniques. Their performance was evaluated in terms of their ability to characterize and separate the targeted biomarkers. The experimental results highlighted both the capabilities and the technical challenges of the devices, offering valuable insights for future improvements and potential biomedical applications.