TY - INPR JF - Lab on a Chip A1 - Pritchard, RH A1 - Zhukov, AA A1 - Fullerton, JN A1 - Want, AJ A1 - Hussain, F A1 - la Cour, MF A1 - Bashtanov, ME A1 - Gold, RD A1 - Hailes, A A1 - Banham-Hall, E A1 - Rogers, SS N2 - The sorting of specific cell populations is an established tool in biological research, with new applications demanding greater cell throughput, sterility and elimination of cross-contamination. Here we report ?vortex-actuated cell sorting? (VACS), a new technique that deflects cells individually, via the generation of a transient microfluidic vortex by a thermal vapour bubble: a novel mechanism, which is able to sort cells based on fluorescently-labelled molecular markers. Using in silico simulation and experiments on beads, an immortal cell line and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), we demonstrate high-purity and high-recovery sorting with input rates up to 10^{4} cells per s and switching speeds comparable to existing techniques (>40 kHz). A tiny footprint (1 × 0.25 mm) affords miniaturization and the potential to achieve multiplexing: a crucial step in increasing processing rate. Simple construction using biocompatible materials potentially minimizes cost of fabrication and permits single-use sterile cartridges. We believe VACS potentially enables parallel sorting at throughputs relevant to cell therapy, liquid biopsy and phenotypic screening. ID - discovery10076717 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9lc00120d SN - 1473-0189 N1 - © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). TI - Cell sorting actuated by a microfluidic inertial vortex Y1 - 2019/06/18/ AV - public ER -