Journal article

An inexpensive thread-based system for simple and rapid blood grouping

DR Ballerini, X Li, W Shen

Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry | SPRINGER HEIDELBERG | Published : 2011

Abstract

This study investigates the use of thread as a flexible and low-cost substrate for the rapid grouping of blood. The use of a capillary substrate such as thread for blood grouping utilises the sensitivity of the flow resistance of large particles in narrow capillary channels to separate agglutinated red blood cells (RBCs) from plasma. Large and discrete particles formed in a continuous liquid phase do not provide capillary wicking driving force and fall behind the capillary wicking front, leading to their separation from the wicking liquid. The capillary substrate therefore provides a very promising but different mechanism for the separation of the agglutinated RBCs and the blood serum phase ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Australian Research Council Grant (DP1094179). The authors would like to thank the kind blood donors; Mr. Scot Sharman, Mr. Henri Kroling and Mr. Junfei Tian whose donations have made this work possible as well as Ms. Lisa Collison of the Monash University Health Service for collecting blood donations. The authors also thank Dr. Lijing Wang of the School of Fashion and Textiles, RMIT University, for kindly providing thread and textile samples. The research scholarships of Monash University and the Department of Chemical Engineering are gratefully acknowledged.